The Color Red
by Sinmora
Summary: When Emma and Hook get sucked into the time portal, they change the timeline far more than they could have imagined and return to a far different Storybrooke. Can Emma set things right before her best friend loses her True Love forever? Would she sacrifice her own chance at happiness to make things right again and bring back the Storybrooke she left?
1. Chapter 1

For those of you just starting to read this, please feel free to review and comment and criticize. I go back after a few weeks and reread the story with the reviews and make notes on what works and what doesn't, so all insight is helpful. Thanks!

Songs: Pretty Wicked Things by Dawn Richard

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><p>Emma stared up at the spears and swords pointed at her face and chest. Beyond them, men with funny uniforms sneered, daring her to move. The black leather of their shirts and pants creaked and strained as they pulled her and Hook to their feet. They'd only shot out of the portal a moment ago, but Emma knew they'd messed up. They messed up real bad.<p>

"Hook, something's wrong," she whispered, not out of necessity but because crisp Maine air refused to fill her lungs. Was she hyperventilating?

"Sensing that, Love," he whispered back, leaning slightly into shoulder with his chest. She bristled but remained still for fear of spooking the guards.

"By order of Her Majesty Queen Regina, you are under arrest for trespassing," one of the men with black billowing feathers upon his shoulders informed them in a gruff voice. "Better start praying she's in a good mood today."

"We're not trespassing. This is public land," Emma blurted without thinking. What the hell was going on?

"The Queen owns all of Storybrooke, and no one is permitted beyond the town proper after sundown," the guard scraped impatiently. One beefy hand grabbed Emma's arm, pulling her forward. The Sheriff dug in her heels.

"Wait. What? _Queen _Regina?" The words finally sunk into her frazzled brain. After being awake and dealing with Hook for more than 24 hours

"Don't tell me you're one of those White Kingdom rebels. I'll just put you out of your misery now," the same man offered, seemingly sincere, which chilled Emma to her core. Queen Regina? His other hand touched the dagger at his hip, and Emma jerked from his grasp, only to back directly into Hook's chest.

"Nope," Hook answered, cocky as ever, and stabilized Emma before she fell over. "Just a pirate and his wench." Emma glared up at him, irritated and relieved at the same time, but remained within his hands holding her shoulders.

"Take us to Regina. I'll explain everything," Emma practically begged the guard. She was still Regina, right? Maybe she'd recognize her and pardon them for 'trespassing.'

"Swan," Hook warned.

"Silence, Pirate!" The guard shoved his sword against Hook's throat, and Emma's hands twitched, aching instinctively to protect the man who stomped on her every last nerve.

"I think I shall take you to The Queen. No one likes chatty peasants."

A rough hand shoved Emma forward, and she held her tongue. Perhaps seeing Regina wasn't the best option. Hook's arm brushed hers as they walked in the center of four guards, two in front and two in back. Not for the first time, Emma found his presence comforting. He remained her constant ally, no matter how irritatingly doting and moony he became. In this obviously altered world, he was her only friend in that moment, the only person she trusted.

Storybrooke looked the same, but everything felt different. Everyone kept their heads down instead of smiling and waving. Leroy scampered across the street when he spotted the guards, not even bothering to raise his head to see who they'd captured this time. The color had drained from the vibrant hamlet that Regina created with the curse, and the wind whipping her tangled blonde hair into her face felt sharper, colder, just like the people.

They passed Granny's diner, and Emma stared. One thing remained the same. Granny and Ruby stood on the stoop and watched the processional of newly imprisoned citizens. The elder Lucas clutched her granddaughter's thin hand in both of her leathery mitts, comforting the visibly upset young woman. A man Emma vaguely recognize stood behind them, a large hand on either woman's shoulder in a quasi-three way hug. Ruby bowed her head, and her red streak fell into her face, almost comforting Emma with the normalcy of the gesture.

Emma craned her neck to keep the women in sight, but a guard pushed her forward. She stumbled, righted herself, and crossed her arms over her chest. All was not well in the land of fairytale creatures. Hook touched the small of her back lightly, the same dread gripping his heart. She nearly grabbed his arm when Town Hall came into view.

The building itself appeared the same, but guards stood at the doors and archers watched with notched arrows at the corners of the roof, The Queen's stronghold. The two men at the doors opened them and allowed the group to pass without hindrance, and the two in front directed them towards the large meeting hall. Emma stumbled again when the cold marble room held not the meeting room she expected but a fully decked out throne room. Guards stood throughout the room, but the woman they'd expected was yet to be seen.

The guard who had made the decision to present them to Regina disappeared into a door to the left of two giant gilded chairs at the center where the stage used to be. He returned a moment later and resumed his position in front of and slightly to the right of Emma. The guards tapped their spears and bowed their head as Regina emerged gracefully from the back room, presumably where she actually performed most of her work. Emma's mouth hung open.

The midnight blue velvet of her gown with a small train caught and reflected tiny glimpses of light in the obnoxiously lit room. Black hair pulled into an elegant pile at the back of her head accentuated the olive toned skin of Regina's delicate neck on display. A thin silver chain attached to the collar of the dress and wrapped around Regina's neck. The former royal had always been beautiful, but this particular moment struck Emma with the unmatched elegance of Regina's skin and grace. She was positively stunning, and the smirk upon those plump, cherry red lips told Emma that Regina knew it.

Those dark chocolate eyes raked down Emma's body appreciatively, and the sheriff shivered, fighting the urge to cover herself. She felt like a piece of meat on display. This was not her Regina, and those were not the soulful, tortured eyes of the woman who had become her friend, possibly her best friend, the co-mother of their son. As Regina finished assessing her and raised her eyes, Emma brazenly held her gaze. Regina quirked an eyebrow in amusement.

"Lock up the pirate," she ordered the guards with a flick of her wrist and climbed the two steps to her throne.

"No, wait!" Emma yelled as a struggled commenced at her side.

Regina held up a hand, and the grunting and flailing ceased. "Who are you to demand such a thing?"

"A rebel," a foreign voice that Emma never dreamed of hearing again accused her coldly.

Cora.

Emma shivered involuntarily and maintained consistent eye contact with Regina. If she focused on Regina, perhaps Cora spared her life for the insolence of meeting her eyes rather than lower her gaze to the floor. The elder Mills joined her daughter, taking a seat in the second chair. The double throne made perfect sense now. Cora finally realized her dream and brainwashed Regina in the process.

"I'm not a rebel," Emma stated, and Regina's eyes softened. Not a lot, but enough. She was in there, somewhere. "My name is Emma Swan."

"How quaint," Regina murmured, feigning boredom. Cora, however, maintained a healthy death glare at the obstinate blonde woman.

"What was your business beyond town past curfew?" Regina's mother demanded.

Emma held Regina's eyes, praying for just a glimpse of the woman she'd cared for only hours ago. "We were sucked into the portal Zelena opened. Storybrooke wasn't like this when we left. I think we came back in the wrong time, or maybe the wrong reality." Emma rubbed her forehead anxiously. "I don't know a lot about magic or how time travel works."

Regina's lips parted in a surprised breath, the only hint of a reaction to the words. "Time travel is impossible, you silly girl," Cora bit. Regina glanced towards her mother. She may have held the title of queen, but Cora clearly called the shots. Crap on toast. "And who is this Zelena?"

"She's…" Emma faltered. Cora hid Zelena for a reason. Regina didn't know. Emma had no other options. "She's the child you put in the basket and abandoned in the woods. Your first born," Emma announced to the room brazenly. How else was she supposed to say those words?

Cora sprang to her feet. "Guards, to the prison. Now!"

"Wait!" Regina ordered and joined her mother on her feet. She turned to her elder, ire flaring in her beautiful eyes. A look Emma knew all too well. Regina was pissed, and for once, not at her. "Is this true, Mother?"

"Of course it isn't true, Darling," Cora purred, and bile churned in Emma's stomach. "This rebel lies in attempt to divert us from the fact that she is a traitor to your crown."

"It's not a lie," Emma protested and took a step towards the two rulers. A sharp kick to the back of her knee took her to the floor where she remained by the force of two heavy hands on her shoulders. The sound of a sword being drawn behind her spurred her forward.

"Regina, I swear, this isn't a lie. Please, you have to believe me," Emma begged.

Regina stiffened. No one had called her simply by her given name in so many years. "It is improper to address a queen by her given name," she corrected Emma, more intrigued with each moment.

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty," Emma half-assed an apology. "Look, we don't have time for this. Where is Henry?"

"My father died many years ago, you squashed cabbage leaf," Regina ground bitterly. Emma nearly cried in relief. She still insulted quoted literature.

"I like that play, too," Emma murmured, holding Regina's gaze. Once again, The Queen startled, only enough to be recognizable by Emma. "Henry is your son," she continued.

Anger reignited in those dark eyes, and Emma felt the heat upon her skin as Regina strode towards her. A sharp hand around her neck jerked her to her feet, and claws dug into her throat. "Everyone knows it is impossible for me to bear children. Make your peace with your gods because tomorrow shall see your execution, rebel."

Large meaty hands pawed at her, and Emma struggled against them. "Stop! Wait! Regina!"

Her feet lifted from the floor and still she squirmed and wriggled. Regina's dark eyes glazed with tears of the pain Emma apparently caused without meaning to. She hadn't known that Regina was infertile. "I'm sorry, Regina. Please! Just listen to me. This isn't how Storybrooke was when I left it!"

Regina turned her back. Cora waited with a comforting hand and a serpent's tongue. Emma redoubled her efforts of escape, praying the guards didn't knock her out as they had poor Hook. He should have known better than to fight her battles by now. "Regina, you're good now! You redeemed yourself! You have a son!"

More hands grabbed her. "Regina, we have a son! He's alone out there somewhere. I have to find him!" Emma jabbed her elbow into the nose of the man holding her off the floor. She fell to the cold marble in a heap of legs and arms, and immediately sprang to her feet, sprinting towards the two women watching the scene unfold.

Cora threw out her hand, and Emma froze. Every muscles strained against the magical bonds to no avail. Hands grabbed her once more. Terrified green met those flaming brown eyes once more. "Please Regina," she begged. Regina flicked her wrist, dismissing her guards.

"I know about Daniel," Emma blurted in a last ditch effort. The restraints around her waist and arms tightened as Cora attempted to silence her. Had she faced anyone but Emma Swan, it might have worked.

"She killed him in front of you," Emma gasped and wondered if her ribs would have broken under the strain if Regina hadn't broken her mother's concentration.

She approached The Savior slowly, undiluted rage in her eyes, but Emma also saw a tinge of doubt. Regina had only spoken of Daniel once in Neverland during a moment of sheer weakness. Emma highly doubted that she'd have spoken of her lost love to anyone else, not in this reality. Clawed fingers grabbed her cheeks, imprinting tiny crescents upon her skin. Brown eyes flicked back and forth, searching the truth and sincerity of the stormy sea green of her captives.

A decision made, she pushed Emma's head to the side as she let go and stepped back. "Lock her up."


	2. Isolation

To answer the question, yes, this is completely unrelated to my series. I've decided to take a break from it until the end of S4 part 1 because I'm sure a plot line will emerged eventually there. I just have to wait for useful events that doesn't involve cock-waving in Emma's face.

As always, bless you for the reviews. This isn't fun for me if I don't know that you're having a good time as well.

Song: Snuff by Slipknot

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><p>"Looks like your just in time for dinner," the guard whispered into Emma's ear as he pushed her through the door of the asylum beneath the hospital. It had changed along with everything else in this hellhole. Where individual block cells used to stand, cold steel bars separated tiny holding cages more suited to a dungeon than an asylum or prison.<p>

Emma shivered as the door closed behind her. They dragged Hook to the cell beside her and tossed his still limp body onto the hard concrete. She winced at the resounding thump but figured the pirate had suffered much worse so she held her tongue and studied her environment. Each cell had a small futon-like mattress on the floor, one thin blanket, and a bucket - which Emma assumed served as the toilet. What the hell had Cora done to Regina?

"Dinner is much better than it sounds," a familiar voice told her in what Emma thought was supposed to be a comforting tone.

"Belle?" A figure emerged from the darkness on the other side of the aisle and grabbed the bars with both hands. Emma rushed at her own cage excitedly and practically jumped on the bars. "You're alive!"

"Unfortunately," Belle said and pressed her forehead into the cool metal. "How do you know me?"

"Belle, you're going to have to trust me. Please, okay?" The door at the end of the hallway opened, scraping and echoing harshly on the cold concrete walls. Belle held up a finger, silently indicating Emma wait before proceeding with her tale.

Ruby and the same man she'd seen at the diner entered pushing carts, and Emma's heart somersaulted in joy. If she made Ruby and Belle believe her, maybe they'd save Henry if Regina executed her in the morning. Belle smiled bashfully and tucked frizzy brown hair behind her ears. Ruby pointed down the aisle, and the man nodded before practically sprinting down the rows to the end. Emma understood immediately; they met in the middle.

Ruby patiently handed out bags of food to greedy prisoners. The system made sense. She and Granny cooked all day anyway, so why not make meals for prisoners in exchange for extra money. Knowing the Lucas women, the meals far surpassed what they were being paid for them. When Ruby stopped outside Belle's cell, the wolf leaned against the bars and played with the bag of food she pulled from the bottom shelf of the cart.

"Hi Belle," she whispered and glanced nervously towards the man at the opposite end of the cell block.

"Ruby," Belle sniffled and discreetly placed her hand on the bars next to Ruby's. Their pinky fingers met on the inside of the cage and linked softly. Belle bit her bottom lip at the gentle contact, body visibly relaxing.

"I was worried when you didn't come for lunch," Belle whispered with another anxious glance towards the man.

"Peter doesn't like me to see you," the wolf answered sadly. "The Queen has been rough on us since I pleaded for your release. We almost lost the prison contract." Undiluted grief filled her once soft and kind voice. Belle heard it, too, and reached through the bars to touch Ruby's waist in an awkward-almost-hug.

"Don't worry about me. I'll be okay. She won't kill me as long as she needs me to control Rumpel," Belle assured the distraught woman who had become her friend over the years of delivering meals in their perpetual, never-ending hell.

"You've been locked in here for 30 years, Belle. We're immortal, the curse made us so. Do you honestly think you can survive an eternity in this cage?" Ruby asked, uncaring that her voice now echoed off the stone walls and attracted the attention of her husband.

"I can't help but think if I had joined Snow in her fight against The Dark Kingdom, maybe my wolf could have stopped all of this. Maybe I could have saved you."

Soft fingertips covered Ruby's mouth, and the wolf leaned into the caress of her cheek that followed. "Nothing could have stopped this. You ran away to marry your True Love, Ruby. There's no shame in that. You had to protect your family."

Long, pianist fingers covered the colder, shorter ones on her cheek, and Ruby smiled sadly. Large, brown puppy dog eyes held Belle's baby blue. "I think I made a mistake."

"Ruby!" Peter's harsh voice echoed on the stone, and the two women parted like a magic blast blew them apart.

The wolf glared at the man who had already turned his back, returning to his work. Regina kept a lot of prisoners, Emma realized. She ignored the mysterious Peter and the rest of the prisoners for the moment and focused on her two friends who couldn't remember her. Ruby slipped the bag between the bars. It looked bigger than the others and rattled as she forced it through the cold metal.

"I brought you Jules Verne again," Ruby explained with a searching smile on her lips, eyes soft and big like a puppy's. She wanted Belle's approval, Emma realized. The librarian smiled brightly, easing the wolf's fears.

"He's my favorite," Belle allayed and touched Ruby's fingers for a lingering caress as she took the bag. She disappeared quickly into the darkness and returned with a slightly smaller bag to pass back through the bars.

"I really liked H.G. Wells," she said almost too low for Emma to hear. Ruby smiled and glanced around quickly before taking the bag and shoving it onto the bottom shelf of the cart.

A small smile tugged at the corners of Emma's mouth despite the situation. True Love found a way, even though the timeline had become unrecognizable, Belle and Ruby found each other anyway. Not even the fact that Ruby had married someone else deterred them from falling in love all over again. Emma highly doubted they recognized the deep emotions they felt. It had certainly taken long enough the first time to acknowledge them when Belle was a free woman and Regina wasn't terrorizing Storybrooke and Ruby wasn't married.

"Until tomorrow," Belle whispered and blew Ruby a kiss as she sunk into the darkness of her cell. Ruby nodded and continued down the row.

"Ruby, I need your help," Emma whispered. "The timeline got screwed up."

"I can't help you," Ruby clipped, barely even looking at her face as she shoved a bag between the bars.

"Please Ruby, you have to. My son…"

"I said, I can't help you," she said, the threat evident in her voice.

"Ruby, please. You're my best friend. The timeline got screwed up. Storybrooke isn't supposed to be like this. Regina redeems herself in my world. She lets everyone go." Emma chased her as far as the bars allowed. Ruby's shoulders hunched as she tossed a bag into Hook's cell.

"She lets Belle go," Emma whispered harshly, not wanting to alert Peter to their conversation.

Ruby whipped around violently and snagged Emma's throat through the bars. Yellow eyes glowed in the darkness, and Emma held perfectly still. Ruby's wolf wasn't controlled by the curse, and the beautiful woman she'd grown so close to had been jaded beyond recognition.

"If you tell anyone what you saw tonight, I'll make sure you never have another peaceful meal. They don't check the bags anymore, so no one would even find the poison until you died quietly in your cell," Ruby threatened. The dark glint in her eyes told Emma that she meant every single word.

"I won't say anything," Emma assured her and touched Ruby's wrist lightly, non-threateningly. The wolf relinquished her grasp. "But you need to listen to me. I went through a portal and traveled back in time. I messed something up. The world isn't supposed to be like this. Please, you have to believe me."

Ruby turned her back and grabbed her food cart. "Time travel is impossible."

Emma grabbed the bars and shook them in frustration. They didn't budge a centimeter. "This isn't supposed to be this way!" Why could no one believe in the unbelievable? Everyone in this town grew up with the knowledge of magic.

Belle offered a sympathetic gaze across the small aisle as Ruby and Peter left the prison with their carts and extra bags of food, probably for the guards. Emma held the gaze, praying for Belle to believe her. Of all of the people in Storybrooke, Belle might have been the only one with a mind open enough to believe her fantastical tale. Emma's heart fluttered with hope.

"I read a spell once in Rumpel's library," Belle started and then glanced around. "The ingredients required were nearly impossible to find individually, much less at the same time."

"Well, they were found," Emma said wryly.

"I was free in this other world?" She asked hesitantly as though she hadn't actually wanted the information.

"You were free and happy and in love," Emma confirmed. How much should she divulge?

"Rumpel?" Emma shook her head. "Ruby?" Emma met glazed blue eyes with sympathetic green. She'd ruined so many lives.

"You were happy," she repeated.

Belle opened her mouth to speak but clamped it shut when the door opened once more. She shrank into the darkness and retreated to her mattress on the floor. Emma nearly fell over when the man stopped in front of her cell. He was colder with deep stress lines etched into his face and a scar next to his eye across the bridge of his nose, but it was him.

"Graham?" Emma squeaked through the instantaneous tears of grief that burned the back of her throat and eyes. He startled, not having expected her to recognize him.

"This is the one," Graham said over his shoulder. He studied her curiously, as if he might have recognized her but said nothing more.

"You got it," the guard answered and unlocked the door.

"Got what? What's happening?" Emma demanded, fear shaking her voice noticeably. Someone needed to help Henry. She failed him like she failed everyone else in Storybrooke.

"The Queen has ordered you to the isolation chamber," Graham explained. "I don't know what you did, but may the gods have mercy on your soul."

Emma struggled against the first hand that grabbed her. She secured a firm grip on his arm and jerked it against the heavy door. The snap of his elbow dislocating echoed into the block structure, and the guard squalled in pain before dropping to the floor. The creaking of bow strings being drawn stopped Emma cold. Two men on either side of Graham aimed arrows at her, and she held up her hands in surrender. Shackles slid around her wrists, and red hot anger flared inside her chest.

"Oh come the fuck on. Don't I even get my dinner?" She yelled as Graham shoved her forward towards the door and something she wagered was far worst than the tiny cell in the cold hall. At least there she had Belle.

The air grew colder and staler the deeper they descended the stairs, and Emma wondered if Regina created a stairway to hell beneath the hospital. Finally, they came to a door at the bottom of the massive staircase, and Graham opened it without unlocking it first. Emma noticed that the door didn't even have a lock. Her heart jumped into her throat and flopped against her trachea until breathing became impossible.

Light shimmered around the corner of a long hallway, and Emma dug her heels in, resisting. Rough hands pulled her forward against every single survival instinct in her body. Whatever happened, she knew that she wanted to be anywhere except in the room with the light. She was right.

A large cavern opened around the corner. A gigantic plushy chair sat near the edge of a deep, dark chasm. No doubt a seat for The Queen as she tortured her victims. A huge web of crackling neon violet light snapped and crackled in the air, spanning from one side of the cavern to the other, the length of a football field at least. It looked like an electric spider web, a magic web. Skeletons of previous victims hung in the web in various states of decay, some gone to the bone and others omitting a horrid stench that choked Emma with each breath.

"No!" Emma protested and struggled against Graham and the other guards again.

A malicious laugh stopped her cold. Regina. She begged it to be Regina and not Cora. A tiny prick of magic tickled the back of her neck. Her stomach lurched as her feet left the ground. The shackles disappeared, and Emma braced for impact against the magical web. Large fingers of magic circled her waist and arms, cradling her in the slightly ticklish sensation of Regina's magic.

"Leave us!" The Queen ordered and leaned back in her chair, a goblet of red wine poised for consumption. The guards trouped out obediently, even Graham, and Emma shivered when the echo of the door closing reverberated against the walls.

"I bet the acoustics in here make for a jolly good torture," Emma sniped, fed up with the entire situation. Regina was going to kill her anyway. Why even bother?

"As loud as it may seem, this is the only room in Storybrooke in which we may speak freely," Regina explained and sipped her wine, that beautiful dress glistening and glowing in the dull light of her magical net.

"So Mommy Dearest doesn't know everything you do. I'm impressed. She's trained her little doggie so well," Emma sniped, intentionally pushing Regina's buttons.

Hot coals of rage flickered in Regina's eyes, and Emma winced against the crack of a whip tearing at the flesh of her chest. "A warning, Dear," Regina explained. Her eyes glowed as she watched the trickled of blood stain Emma's shirt and seep onto her jeans.

"Yeah, yeah, you're a badass and all that," Emma volleyed, unwilling to show pain to her captor.

Regina quirked an amused eyebrow and sipped her wine. "Think carefully, Miss Swan, upon what you say to me. It may save your inconsequential life." Emma restrained her flapping tongue, finally seeing a way out if Regina told the truth. She needed to save Henry, and Regina didn't know that she could cross the barrier without consequence.

"The cur can be trained," Regina commented, not one bit deterred by Emma's tactics. She was in control, and they both knew it.

Emma rolled her eyes. "What do you want, Regina?"

The Queen gasped silently, secretly reveling in the insolent usage of her given name, only her name, no titles, no fake pursuit of her approval. Emma Swan didn't give a damn about what she thought. She hid the reaction quickly behind a sip of wine, but Emma's self-satisfied smirk told her that the prisoner knew exactly what she'd done. It irritated Regina.

"Tell me about Zelena," she ordered and lounged in the luscious chair.

"Let me scratch my nose," Emma countered and blew at a strand of hair in her face.

Regina held her gaze. The rapid swell and crash of the ample cleavage displayed told Emma exactly how hard Regina worked to control her anger or perhaps excitement at the prospect of finally meeting a true challenge. Either way, her arrogance reveled in the small glimpse behind the cool mask of Queen Regina. With a lazy, disinterested flick of her wrist, one of Emma's arms fell free from the web.

She immediately attacked the itch and brushed her hair from her face. "Zelena was your sister. The Wicked Witch of the West? Heard of her?"

"I have," Regina purred, still not buying Emma's story.

"Cora had her before she married your father. I don't know who raised her or how she became that powerful, but she kicked your ass all over town." Emma faltered when her arm fused to the web once more, and Regina smirked at her surprise and frustration. This was a game to her.

"She blamed you for Cora abandoning her because you gave her the opportunity to become true royalty where Zelena couldn't because she was illegitimate," Emma continued.

Regina pondered the information and sipped her wine. Emma simply watched, catching the tendrils of pain and grief that her Regina had begun to dissipate with each good choice she made. "Why do you want to know all of this? Your mother has you so brainwashed that you're not going to believe anything that I say anyway."

Regina's eyes snapped to hers and another lash of the magical whip tore at Emma's chest. She whimpered and bit her lip against the sting. Sucking deep breaths, she dared to meet Regina's eyes once more. Grief, she realized. Pain and grief were all this woman had. And anger. This Regina must have been unstoppable since her magic originated in that rage.

The Queen stood and approached the edge of the fissure, peering over dangerously. Emma jerked as she imagined Regina flinging herself over the side and leaving her here to rot. Regina poured the remainder of her wine into the chasm. A roar and burst of flames followed from below, and Regina smiled.

"You're welcome, Old Friend," she whispered.

"Maleficent?" Emma asked, and Regina's eyes darted to hers once more. The blonde woman knew far more than she let on.

"My only friend," Regina confirmed needlessly and turned her back on the dark pit. "She'll keep you company tonight."

"Regina, wait," Emma begged. "You're just going to leave me here?" Emma watched the royal walk away, the silver chains of her dress glinting and shimmering in the glow of the magical nexus holding her captive.

"Regina!"

"Sleep well, Emma Swan," Regina bade without looking back as she rounded the corner.

"Regina, you cannot leave me locked up all night with a dragon!"

A wicked laugh reverberated off the walls of the vast cavern. A roar from beneath the web followed. Emma shivered.


	3. Power

Y'all are awesome! I'm a little overwhelmed with the response I've received so far. Thank you, and enjoy, My Doves!

Songs: Crawling and Numb by Linkin Park

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><p>Regina tossed and flopped for the last time in her giant bed. The first rays of dawn peeped around her curtain, and she obediently rolled from her bed. For a curse intended to bring her a happy ending, it failed miserably, and Regina fantasized not for the first time of burning the entire town to the ground and putting every single soul out of their misery. The ones who hadn't taken it upon themselves to end everything hated her, feared her, scorned her. How was this different than the world she'd left?<p>

Though large and spacious, her bedroom suffocated her. Everything reminded her of The Enchanted Forest. A giant canopy bed with intricately carved posts and sheer purple and pink fabric draping graciously from the ceiling still remained the focal point of the room. In their world, perhaps that made sense in their old world because a queen must always be aware of her own maidenhood, motherhood, or ownership - all of which took place in the bed. She had no need of such reminders here, especially since that vile Dr. Whale informed her of her inadequacies as a woman.

She dressed in the appropriate house clothes fit to be seen by servants who were not permitted in her chambers, which meant she threw a black silk robe over her black silk pajamas. Cora would be irritated, and Regina grinned at the thought. As she slowly descended the stairs to join her mother, without a doubt already fully dressed in her regal attire for the day, in the dining room, Regina glared at the new decorations, useless things really. Light had barely touched the mountains, yet her mother had found another way to needlessly spend money.

Were this her mansion, she'd clear out the bulk and gold ornamentation and ridiculous statues. Not that she depreciated art, but such things better suited a museum, not her home. She'd never been comfortable with ostentation displays of wealth within the home. She much preferred Daniels cozy one-room shack to this impersonal abode.

Regina took her seat at the head of the table. Her mother still permitted that much at least. She was The Queen after all. Everything else in her beautiful mansion on Mifflin Street showed Cora's fingertips upon each surface, even her bedroom - but not her place at the table. She plopped unceremoniously into the luscious, padded chair. Though the impropriety bothered her deeply, the disapproving frown that tugged her mother's lips downward filled her heart with a tiny hint of gratification.

"Honestly, Regina, you ought to take more pride in your appearance. You're not a young girl anymore and require the assistance of make up to maintain your vibrancy. Imagine the rebellion if your subjects thought for a moment that you were not well," Cora berated her daughter.

Regina straightened immediately, genuinely happy for the excuse to take the uncomfortable pressure from her lower spine with the unnatural posture. Coffee appeared at her hand, and she sipped the scalding liquid and listened to the quick steps of her house servant tapping away from the daily argument between mother and daughter royals. Cora's constant criticism drove the queen to distraction most days, setting the irritable mood for the rest of the day.

"Thank you, Mother," she said venomously.

"Oh don't pout, Regina. I only want the best for you," Cora cooed and straightened a piece of tangled hair.

Regina swatted her hand, death in her eyes. She'd not slept because Emma's words bounced around inside her skull too loudly to drown out. She'd recited the entire Tiragan Chronicle of Magic in her head, reviewed the tax budget for the upcoming quarterly session with Council, and thought about Emma Swan. Infuriating, smug, insolent, insipid Emma Swan. Never before had any dared to challenge her so boldly, not since Snow White and Charming's rebellion in The Enchanted Forest 30 years ago.

"Of course you do, Mother," Regina deflated, too tired to fight that morning.

"What would people think if you looked less than perfectly healthy?" Cora presented the hypothetical with genial intent.

Regina braced her forearm on the edge of the table and shot her mother a look that would have made anyone else feel two inches tall. "I imagine they'd organize a festival."

"Don't be dramatic, Regina. It's unbecoming," Cora chided, and Regina rolled her eyes.

"Mother, dramatic is a flare that comes as naturally as breath to this family," Regina countered aridly, her dissociated sass only in the early stages of gearing up for the day.

"Regina, Darling, are you still cross because of that vile creature you put to death this morning? She told you lies, dear girl," Cora soothed her sulking daughter. "Are you going to attend? Might make you feel better." She smiled lovingly, and bile climbed Regina's throat.

Everyone assumed she the most evil of the land, never having met her mother. She really ought to have told her that she'd stayed Emma's execution. What was the harm in a little exertion of her queenly power. She wasn't obligated to informed Cora of her every decision. Her mother was only an adviser after all, entitled at her behest not any real legitimacy to power.

"I'm going riding this morning. Shouldn't be more than an hour. Astrid!" She called the young woman who had brought her coffee.

"Really Regina, why do you insist upon behaving like a man. Queens do not take morning rides, no matter the amount of joy it brings. I had thought your obsession linked with the stable boy. Had I known better, I'd have rid us of your horse, too. You never knew the difference between the vitamins and toxins of your life."

Regina's snide retort stopped short at Astrid's untimely entrance. She dipped in a curtsey, head bowed, hands clasped tritely in front of her slim hips. Regina attempted to bed her once, but the sensitive creature cried so much that she dismissed her, deeming her unworthy of the effort. She'd consented, of course, afraid of rejecting the advances of The Queen, but the agreement had not been sincere. Astrid seemed much happier in the kitchen since she'd removed her as a personal maid. Regina had been many things, a rapist wasn't one of them - not of young girls at any rate.

"Call Graham. I shall have an early lunch," Regina explained without looking at her, eyes piercing her mother's face. In her mind, Cora's skin peeled away from her skull and fell into quivering slivers on the table, like an earth worm or snake that had been cut in half but continued to wriggle.

"I don't feel much like eating now." The words slammed into their target, and Cora's lips peeled back in a sneer. Astrid curtseyed again and scampered off in search of her mistress' personal body guard, eager to escape the explosive tension.

"You're in one of your moods," Cora accepted the rejection in stride. "We shall revisit this subject during our midday meal."

"Lunch, Mother. In this world, it is called lunch. If I wanted to speak as though a stick had lodged in my rectum, I'd have remained in our world," Regina inadvertently sounded more pompous than her mother.

Cora snickered, and Regina cracked a smile. "Oh Darling, let's not fight this morning, hmm?" Cora opened her arms, and despite her best judgment, Regina happily fell against her mother's breast, eagerly lapping up any motherly affection offered. Cora petted her hair, and her anger melted away under the soothing gesture. She'd always loved the gentle sensation of a loving stroke against her beautiful silky hair.

"My sweet girl, my little queen," she cooed, and Regina pretended for a moment that her mother actually loved her. She needed Cora, no matter how horribly the woman treated her.

"I don't know what to do, Mommy. I'm so lonely," Regina confessed in a moment of weakness. Cora scratched at her scalp and wrapped a protective arm about her shoulders as the tortured queen knelt in front of her mother, seeking guidance, love, physical comfort.

"You can live without love, Regina. You have power, and no one can hurt you ever again, now that you've cut all the weakness from your life. It's all I ever wanted for you," Cora explained as Regina pulled back and stared at her incredulously.

"Mother, casting this curse was supposed to give me a happy ending. It was written that way. I was supposed to get everything I ever wanted," Regina begged her mother to understand. Ultimately, they'd visited this very discussion many times with the same result. Regina wanted to fall in love despite her mother's disdain of the very thought.

"Don't be petulant, Regina. You have everything you want," Cora exclaimed and waved a hand around the room. "You're rich and powerful, and I am right here at your side, supporting everything you do. Isn't that what you've always wanted?"

"No, Mother," Regina said softly, emotionally. In the blink of an eye, every single horrid thing her mother had done to her crashed back onto her chest. Daniel. "This is what you want."

Graham chose that moment to enter, and Regina stood abruptly. With a snap of her fingers, tight leather riding pants and jacket appeared around her body, hair pulled back into a braid. She always wore the attire while riding. Cora scoffed and sipped her tea.

"I do wish you'd add color to your wardrobe," the royal mother criticized.

Regina strode to Graham and touched his shoulder. Her braid whipped from shoulder to back with the force of her neck. "I've found that black suits me," she volleyed, enjoying her mother's raising hackles for only a moment before disappearing in a puff of purple smoke.

Emma startled as the duo appeared in the cavern. Regina smirked and removed the black riding gloves, assessing how close to breaking Emma appeared. She still looked strong if a bit haggard. The bitch was resilient, she gave her that much, and Regina planned to remedy that particularly loathsome trait presently.

"Graham, be a dear and run to the stables. In the event my mother appears or sends a servant, please intervene. Meet me here in exactly two hours," Regina gave the orders in a sickly sweet voice, and Emma swallowed. Regina always felt markedly vicious when she used that voice.

"Of course, My Queen," he dismissed himself and tapped away lightly in his uniform boots.

Again, Regina waited for the door to close before addressing her. "Sleep well, Dear?"

"Fuck off, your most royal pain in my ass," Emma cursed at the already angry woman. She'd spent half the night with adrenaline pounding through her system every time Maleficent made a peep, and thoughts of Henry haunted the second half of her night after the dragon presumably went to sleep. Where was their son? What sort of horrors had he seen in this world without a doting and loving mother like Regina?

A blow similar to a right hook jerked Emma's head to one side. The iron tang of blood exploded across her tongue. Emma laughed darkly and spat out the crimson liquid. "That the best you got?"

"Why do you insist on making this process so incredibly difficult, you vile troglodyte?" Regina snapped and tossed her gloves onto her chair in a fussy huff, which made Emma giggle at the prissy woman.

"Someone's in a bad mood," Emma taunted with a chuckle for extra irritation. The words snapped a cord tight within Regina's chest, so closely had they mirrored her mother's spoken only moments ago.

Regina flicked her wrist. Blow after savage blow landed upon Emma's face and chest and ribs, alternating from punches or kicks to lashes of a whip. Grunts followed each impact, and excitement and arousal built in her belly with each groan of anguish. She imagined her mother's smug face and her tiny barbs about her weight or face or muscle tone or the gray hair she'd discovered two weeks ago, which Regina promptly plucked and then dyed her hair.

"Regina, stop!" Emma yelled, but the blows continued. The front of her shirt shredded under the sharp stings of the invisible whip. Skin peeled back on her chest and belly just as she'd envisioned Cora's at the table. She wasn't able to harm her mother, not yet, but this audacious rodent who had surfaced from the sewer to drive a thorn into her side offered the perfect substitute.

"You are nothing!" Regina yelled, giving her mind to the fantasy. "I hate you, Mother. I will never be good enough for you," she screeched at the confused and unsuspecting blonde.

"Regina, stop, I'm not her damn it," Emma thought the reminder might have jolted Regina from her rage, but The Queen had already lost what tiny grip on reality she'd possessed.

"I have done everything you wanted. Why won't you leave me alone?" Regina asked in a hollow, broken voice and lashed out at Emma once more.

"Regina!" Emma squalled as a strip of skin peeled from her thigh. The dark woman had completely lost her mind, and Emma truly feared her imminent demise for the first time since she'd reentered Storybrooke. A part of her held out hope of breaking through Regina's barriers to the broken woman beneath. She was too late.

Regina laughed at her pained howls. Emma screamed once last piercing wail and went limp, and Regina's hand finally stilled. As her anger dissipated, the sounds of pain urging her forward petered to tiny mews and then stopped completely. Her chest hopped and jumped as it suddenly filled with air. Emma Swan hung in the web, head bowed, blood staining her clothes. A sneer pulled Regina's lips back in feral glee.

Her heart pounded with the pure, undiluted adrenaline of power, and Regina spared a moment to think of apologizing to her mother. Cora was right, after all. She loved power, reveled in it. She practically salivated at the aroma of fear that rolled off her subjects at the very sight of her traipsing down the street with Graham at her side.

And yet, a sliver of guilt slipped into her belly. Acid churned her empty stomach, and her hands clenched into fists. Cora deserved her anger, not this impossibly insolent stranger. With a wave of her hand, Emma appeared on the stone ledge at her feet. Regina swallowed thickly and averted her gaze from the deep gashes on the alabaster chest and stomach now stained crimson. What the hell about Emma Swan intrigued her so very much?

Gritting her teeth, Regina snap her fingers and teleported them to the outer room of the prison where the guards currently sat in a game of cards. They snapped to attention, not having expected the sudden arrival of their mistress. Had the situation been normal, she'd have punished all of them for their laziness. As it stood, she simply desired an escape from the situation with a semi-clean conscience.

"Tend her wounds and return her to her cell," she ordered, and the guards jumped to action, accepting the reprieve from punishment while The Queen offered it. Apparently, she felt generous that day. No one had ever returned from the isolation room.

Regina added an irrational threat for a the sake of appearance. "If she dies, I'll have all your heads on pikes."


	4. Pet

Again, Bless. *Bows graciously* Thank you all for the wonderful reviews. Seeing one in my inbox brightens my day like a new chapter brightens yours.

Enjoy, My Doves!

Song: Song of the Caged Bird by Lindsey Stirling

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><p>Pain.<p>

Pain everywhere. Burning, itching, aching pain.

And softness. Cool, wet dabs of softness on her forehead tethered her mind to something other than the massive amounts of excruciating pain. Slowly, bleary green eyes opened slowly to find cherry red lips and glowing violet light. Regina and the isolation room. Regina patted her head with a wet, soft cloth. Had she died? Was this her version of hell?

"You are an obstinate creature, even in an unconscious state," Regina berated bitterly.

Emma opened her mouth to speak, but nothing broke past the arid desert of her throat. Her eyes slammed shut. A limp hand raised to touch the bumps and bruises on her face. Gentle but firm fingers thwarted the movement. Emma groaned, half in frustration and half in pain. Regina clicked her tongue.

"The salve on your cuts will burn if you spread it into your eyes," she warned and then released Emma's wrist, which surprisingly dropped to the cushion of her gigantic chair.

"Open your offensive trap," she ordered, and Emma obeyed when something cold and metal pressed to her lips.

Cool water slid over her tongue, instantly triggering her cough reflex. Regina patiently waited for the pained gasping to pass and offered more hydration to the injured woman. She hadn't meant to inflict such damage upon her captive. If she were honest with herself, which she adamantly refused to be, Emma Swan actually broke the monotony of her dull life. Her bold, unyielding defiance of her power bucked the predicted groveling and begging for her life of most captives. She was different.

The guards apparently felt the same way when she'd ordered them to bring the still unconscious woman back to the isolation room, stealing lingering glances at the usually unrelenting, cold-hearted royal. While she loathed being perceived as weak or slipping in some way in her iron-clad control, Regina found an unexpected opportunity in Emma Swan. Something not even her mother could taint, Emma wouldn't have allowed it. She clearly hated Cora, and she knew things- things no one could possibly have known. She would be Regina's and only Regina's.

"I want you to be my pet," Regina blurted with a shaky voice, like a 12-year-old asking the popular girl to the homecoming dance. She honestly feared rejection. Emma was too valuable to kill due to her wealth of information and too brazen to be left to her own devices in a place where her control fell between tenuous and slipping on a regular basis.

Green eyes flew open and blinked up at her. A giggle exploded from the back of the blonde's throat, and Regina recoiled at the hideous sound directed towards her. It quickly turned into a pained, full-belly laugh, which left Emma gasping and clutching her shredded stomach. A harsh wince sucked through her teeth, and Regina snagged her hands from her stomach.

"Stop laughing, imbecile, before you tear your wounds open," she ordered quietly, which came out more as a supplication than a demand.

Emma sobered immediately. She knew that tone. Regina had used that tone when they'd wrongly accused her of Archie's murder. She was broken, and Emma still cared about the woman she'd destroyed by messing with the timeline. As much as she wanted to punch herself in the head for the thought, she yearned for that woman to return. Regina adjusted the corset digging into her side and waited for Emma to formulate some sort of response.

"What the fuck is a pet?" Emma blurted and snagged the goblet from Regina's hand.

Regina shifted uncomfortably on the ottoman she'd conjured while waiting for the obstinate twit to awaken. "You will live in my house, accompany me to and from Council, fulfill my every personal and professional need. You will, in short, become my property, and in return, you shall never want for anything again."

"Except for freedom," Emma clipped, and Regina's mouth twitched with a hint of an amused smirk.

"I will make every resource at my disposal available to help you find your son." She waved her hand and stood, hiking her long heavy skirt from the floor in front of her. Her sudden need to distance herself from Emma confused her, but Regina followed the instinct. They'd always kept her alive.

"You realize, of course, your consent is merely a courtesy," she informed the woman gulping down water as though she'd not receive another drop for days. Regina waved her hand and filled the cup to the brim once more.

"You're a fucking bitch, do you know that?" Regina smirked, and Emma jerked upright, fully intending to strangle out her miserable existence. Water sloshed onto her jeans stained with the dark brown of dried blood a moment before the goblet clattered to the stone ledge.

Instead of fulfilling her threat, she yelped in pain and doubled over, gasping for the breath that the sudden movement ripped out of her. Regina moved faster than should have been possible in that ridiculous outfit and touched her shoulder, seemingly concerned. Emma recoiled from the touch and winced from the second sudden movement.

"Stop touching me," Emma lashed out, her voice deep and hollow and controlled, speaking to the level of her anger. Regina squinted, fighting the urge to help the injured prisoner whether she wanted it or not. After a moment, she pulled back and sat primly on the edge of the ottoman, hands clasped tightly in her lap.

"You already know that I'm going to consent because I can find him ten times faster than I could on my own. After I find him, what then?" Emma seethed, tone raw and vengeful.

"Then, I will ensure he is safely deposited in your arms, consider it a present for your cooperation," The Queen dangled the proposition in front of her nose like her salvation. She manipulated Emma, and Emma understood that she'd been played. They both knew she'd already accepted in her mind.

"You could just take my heart," Emma suggested, poking at Regina's angle in all of this. The fact that not even Regina in such a powerful state could lay a finger on her heart remained unsaid. The blonde knew that kindness rarely came for free, and Regina wanted something.

"I rather prefer you as you are, Dear," Regina allayed the fear with an amused quiver in her deep voice.

Emma's brow furrowed, pinching her bruised face, reminding her of exactly whom she danced with that moment. This wasn't her Regina. "Regina, what the hell do you want from me?"

Regina smiled almost bashfully, that little scar on her upper lip stretching. "I want you to be mine. I ask for consent because I do not wish to spend months breaking you. As I stated, I prefer you as you are."

The cryptic answer burned a red hot hole in Emma's chest, a cigarette held against the center of paper. Unable to do more in her current physical condition, she threw her arms up in frustration and leaned back in the overly comfy chair. Sleep tugged at her heavy eyes despite her righteous anger. She needed to eat and recover her strength. Another thought suddenly occurred.

"Which means I have some leverage here," she stated, not questioned.

"I suppose," Regina agreed, anticipating the ultimatum before Emma ever woke. Everyone always wanted more. "Is there more you wish than your relative freedom and your son?" She asked incredulously, making the idea seem positively preposterous. Consent came easily, but Emma needn't have known that. Regina simply enjoyed toying with the woman.

"I want you to release Belle French and stop harassing the Lucas family," Emma returned, surprising Regina. She cared nothing of herself, only others, Regina noted. Could Emma Swan grow to care for her in such a manner?

"Miss French is a political prisoner. I cannot release her without due cause," Regina confabulated excuses. If Belle roamed free, the tight control she held over The Dark One slipped a little more in her already weakening fingers.

"That's bullshit, and you know it. You asked me what I wanted, and that's it." Emma knew damn well that Regina used Belle as a pawn in her war of attrition against Rumpelstiltskin. The woman deserved to be free. Either Ruby or Rumpel volunteered to take her in, so Belle's life after incarceration offered her safety and security, even if it was only in the form of a room at Granny's.

"How about your pirate friend instead?" Regina compromised.

"No, Hook will spend the proper amount of time for trespassing and then be released. Belle has been in prison for 30 years, and I want her to be free. That's my final offer. Take it and have my full cooperation, or leave it and get ready for one hell of a rodeo, lady," Emma challenged her counterpart with a bite of finality, mostly to gauge how badly Regina wanted her. Without Henry, she imagined their first meeting unfolding very similarly. Regina loved a good challenge, which is probably how she stayed alive the first time around.

"You'll not fight my ownership?" Regina confirmed, gathering all the information before making a final decision.

"If you have to call it that. I guess I don't have a choice in the matter, so yeah, that makes me your property," Emma answered in a roundabout manner, as she often did. She touched her face gingerly, wincing at the cuts and bruises and twangs of pain sparking through her skull. She really had no option. She either consented to Regina or subjected herself to more torture, which meant Henry waited longer for her to save him if he in fact needed saving.

"You will live nearly as a free woman, Emma." She waved a hand by her face in a sweeping gesture and a collar appeared. "This will be your occupation. When you are not in my service, you will be free to come and go as you please. No one else bears this mark, not even Graham. You will be my prized possession." She held up the collar. "This is enchanted to mark your location at all times, so that I may find you no matter where you've wandered within a five mile radius from my mansion," Regina explained calmly, genuinely thinking her little creation generous and kind.

"Like a dog," Emma struck, visibly unnerved by the prospect of wearing a collar of ownership. Five miles prevented her from leaving the barrier. Tears sprung to her eyes as all of her grand schemes of escape flew out the window. She swallowed them, but the visible reaction sparked one in the sorceress.

Regina waved her hand over the pliable leather. It creaked and groaned. Magic reshaped it into the form of a wrist band about two inches wide. Regina raised an eyebrow as if to say, "Better?" and waited patiently. The grand gesture almost melted Emma's heart. The Queen wanted her to be as comfortable as possible in the arrangement without seeming weak or desperate. What the hell made Regina want her so badly?

"Let Belle go," Emma repeated her demand.

"One month," Regina countered once more. "Prove to me for one month that you will behave appropriately, and I shall comply with your request. My guards shall at once cease their spot checks on the Lucas family." With a deep breath, she met Emma's eyes and prayed the willful woman broke their verbal contract within that amount of time.

"Why?" Emma asked, still skeptical of the drastic change from that morning's insanity. How had lashing the hell out of her spiraled into this outlandish offer of servitude. She felt certain that Regina meant to kill her.

"Frankly, you irritate my mother, which provides far more amusement than it should, and you do not grovel, which means you'll make an excellent adviser should I need an extra opinion," Regina answered honestly. It wasn't the full truth, but it was at least a truth. Regina wanted to alleviate the tragic loneliness of her life, but revealing that vulnerability to this resourceful creature seemed a far too dangerous admission.

Emma saw the flimsy but honest statement for what it was but said nothing more on the subject. Regina clearly searched for relief from her mother, something she'd always done. It broke Emma's heart. Who would Regina have become had her mother's abusive hands not molded her existence? The only moment she'd ever opened up about Daniel, Regina confessed her desire to live simply, raise a family, wash her hands of the entire royal servitude she'd been forced into. The tortured woman hadn't really begun to live until she broke the curse and allowed Regina to redeem herself by keeping the mindless rabble at bay with her influence as The Savior and their princess. Everyone assumed that she'd done it for Henry, - Emma let them - but she also cared for Regina. She couldn't have changed that much, right? Not the core of her being even if it looked a little differently from this perspective.

Emma held out her left wrist in defeat. Questioning Regina's motives would have taken all night, and if she consented now, perhaps Regina ordered her people to begin the hunt for Henry immediately. Regina stole all other options. She would become Regina's plaything whether she wanted to or not, The Queen explained that perfectly. At least this way, Emma stood a chance of remaining within Regina's good graces instead of being used as a whipping post.

"Regina, I will consent willingly, but there's one more thing," Emma began, catching The Queen's full attention. The leather band hovered above her wrist, and Emma resisted the urge to retract her arm against her chest for protection. This happened whether she wanted it to or not, she reminded herself again, so she made the best out of a crappy situation. Maybe she saved Regina in the process.

"I will not be beaten anymore because you get pissed at Cora. I know you well enough to know that I'm going to get smacked or immobilized every once in a while when you throw one of your regal hissy fits, but this-" she waved a hand at her chest and stomach covered with nothing but her bra and a bunch of gauze. Why hadn't she noticed her partial nudity before that moment? Well, given the amount of gauze, she wasn't exposed too terribly much.

"I…" Regina froze. If she apologized to Emma, how much power was relinquished? She became Emma's mistress once the other woman accepted the band, which meant she needn't have said anything. Her mother's voice rattled inside her brain. Weaknesses were exploited. Regina's heart hardened. "I cannot make a false proclamation that promises to spare you from such a situation in the future."

When Emma shrank visibly but still presented her wrist, the cold organ pumping furiously in her breast melted again. Regina pulled a deep breath through her nose, eyes closing against the pathetic sight of her soon-too-be pet so heartbroken. Emma's lack of absolute terror appealed to her, attracted her in an unexpected way. If Emma feared her, she lost the most important attribute of the irritating blonde: her biting wit and scathing comments. Between clenched teeth, she conceded, "But… I'll try."

Emma rolled her eyes. Of course, Regina failed to agree to the simple request of not beating her unconscious. "That's all I ask," she put the poor woman out of her misery. Her Regina would have had a conniption saying those words, so she only imagined how excruciating the concession was for this version of The Queen.

With care unbefitting the emblem of imprisonment, Regina fastened the wrist band with the tender attention of a lover attaching a fancy piece of anniversary jewelry. "There," she whispered, grinning at whatever thought danced through her mind. Emma tensed when Regina looked as though she might have kissed the crest of her ownership. Her stomach knotted. She'd just sold her soul to the devil.

The gauntlet felt thick and heavy, foreign and uncomfortable. Tendrils of magic pulsed into Emma's wrist, revealing the massive amount required to create the enchanted bond on the innocent-looking piece of leather. After a moment, it glowed a bright violet and grew hot. Green eyes darted to brown in fear, but Regina's gaze remained riveted to the wrist of her newest piece of chattel. Emma winced. The leather seared to her flesh, creating an unbreakable bond, cementing the huge decision she'd just made. Regina owned her.

"The pain will cease in a moment," Regina soothed her and brushed a tender thumb over the burning area as though her touch may have aided the removal of pain. Why did people always gently touch an injury? It never made sense to Emma. It fucking hurt, which meant touching it fucking hurt, no matter how lightly. Dumb asses.

Regina had been correct, though. After a few tense seconds, the bracelet fully sunk into her flesh, becoming irremovable, and the pain dissipated. Emma touched the area lightly, finding no separation between the leather and her skin, like a three dimensional tattoo or a brand. It still felt and looked like leather, fooling any who glanced upon it without the knowledge of its creation, and only Regina knew the key to removing it.

"And we shall arrive in time for dinner," Regina quipped, obviously pleased with Emma's submission. "You must be famished. I think we shall take dinner in my study tonight. Mother will not be amused to discover I stopped your execution."

"Yippee," Emma groused.

Regina smirked, and they disappeared in a swirl of purple smoke.


	5. Imprisonment

Wow! You guys are great! Thank you so much for your kind words and encouragements. I'm starting to get super excited for this story, and I hope you are, too.

As always, please enjoy and let me know what you think!

Song: Song of the Caged Bird by Lindsey Stirling

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><p>"This is your room," Regina said softly, as though she feared alerting anyone to their presence. She lowered Emma to the bed carefully and then took several backwards steps and clasped her hands in front of her waist. Regina seemed… nervous?<p>

"My maids have kept it dust free. It's a bit plain at the moment because it has remained unused since my arrival in Storybrooke," she explained and glanced around the Spartan furnishings.

A desk sat against the far wall across from the door with a plushy modern office chair. One mahogany dresser with four drawers flanked a door to an unknown location on one side. A king sized bed with tall posts. A moderately sized walk in closet stood open with a few dresses and shirts and skirts hanging neatly. Another door near the corner of the room farthest from the door leading to the rest of the house show the telltale porcelain of a bathroom. All walls were eggshell white drywall. Beside the desk, two large glass doors covered with white lacey curtains led to a small balcony. Emma hadn't spent a significant time in Regina's house before the time warp, but she'd never seen a balcony on the backside of the house, which meant it came with this new reality. Everything else seemed the same.

"You may decorate however you wish. That door connects to my private chambers," she explained, filling the silence with anxious babble. She'd never taken a pet before, not one who practically stood as her equal. This room had been intended for her husband, but she accepted the impossibility of that life when she took Emma Swan as hers.

"It's fine. I don't need fancy decorations as long as I have a bed and some clothes and maybe an Ipod dock." She paused and slapped at her pockets to find them empty. "Crap. My Ipod must have been in the apartment when I went through the portal. Guess that's gone now." She gave into the urge to lay on the giant luxurious bed but fought the one to fold her hands on her stomach. How had the timeline been so screwed up? What had she and Hook done to set into motion this huge mistake? How many people were lost because of it? Graham lived, but how many died in his place?

Regina waved her hand dismissively, startling Emma from her dark circular thoughts. "It's no matter, Emma. Please make a list of items you require to be comfortable, and I'll see you have them tomorrow." A kindness laced her voice that Emma rarely heard when Regina wasn't The Evil Queen, and she squinted at her new mistress.

"No, I'll buy them out of my wages. You said this is a job, right?" Emma wanted as little as possible from The Queen. Presents indebted her further to the woman, and she planned to eventually break free, legally if she couldn't escape, like a gladiator fighting for her freedom.

Regina chuckled. "It's not that sort of occupation, Dear. That bracelet bonded you to me for life," the royal explained proudly. She'd snagged the best pet in the entire kingdom. Mother would be jealous. "This is a lifelong commitment. You are now my responsibility, and all that you have will come through me. I'll take care of you and your son when he is found." The promise in Regina voice struck a cord in Emma. Everything unfolded almost as it had in her previous reality, but it was still different, darker, harder somehow.

Tears burned Emma's eyes, and she dug the heels of her hands into them. The bruises on her face protested the rough treatment. She hadn't known. She should have known. She truly had sold her soul to the devil. Regina took two steps forward, dress rustling over the soft carpet. Emma's chest jogged up and down forcefully, jiggling her breasts with each thrust, as she controlled her emotions.

"Emma," she said in that same soft, gentle, raspy tone, a tone Emma used to welcome when she'd been Regina's friend.

"Get out," Emma ordered without any hope of Regina actually listening. Her voice dropped to a hollow octave in the battle between her will and her tear ducts.

"Emma, I swear you'll live as freely as you wish," Regina reasoned with the distraught woman. She couldn't understand Emma's displeasure with the situation. Many had begged to be her charge, and the one she offered it to spurned it.

"Get out!" Emma screamed as she jerked upright. Pain exploded in her chest and stomach. Supporting herself with one hand, she leaned to the side and grabbed her belly with the other, which only caused more pain. She breathed into it, distracting herself from the tears of helplessness still threatening to fall. Physical pain never made her cry.

Regina wrung her hands, controlling her own anger towards the ungrateful degenerate sitting on her nonexistent husband's bed. Would no one but her mother ever love her? Her head bowed under the weight of that thought. "Of course. I'll have Astrid bring your dinner and deal with Mother. Someone will be up directly to redress you wounds. I took the liberty of having Graham purchase a few clothing items for you. They're in the dresser and closet."

Emma stared coldly at her through a veil of tangled yellow hair that had fallen into her face, red hot rage in those stormy green eyes. "What part of get out are you struggling to comprehend, _Mistress?_" Regina flinched at the venomous inflection of the title. This was what she'd wanted after all, someone to challenge her.

"Perhaps you'll feel less passionate about your privilege in the morning," she suggested, desperately seeking to defuse the situation before the bomb exploded.

"Privilege?" If Emma held something in her hands in that moment, she'd have chucked it at The Queen. "This is not a privilege. It's a prison sentence. The king forced you into a loveless marriage for 15 years. Why would you do that to someone else? Are you truly that cruel? Does everyone have to suffer because you felt pain during your life? Deal with it, and then grow the hell up!"

The words shot straight to The Queen's core, and she squared her shoulders as a harsh mask fell over her eyes, sending a shiver down Emma's spine with the sudden chill in the room. "I'll send your dinner." Without further comment, Regina turned quickly and exited the room.

Emma collapsed onto the bed and sobbed. Exhaustion and grief tore down the dam of tears she'd suppressed. Ruby and Belle were gone as allies. Her parents were probably dead. Hook remained in the prison for who knew how long. Henry braved the cruel world she'd grown up in by himself. Graham lived in this reality, which meant that she'd been right when she thought his death her fault.

If Cora hadn't killed her in the foreseeable future, surely her grief completed the task. She'd lost everything, and now she condemned herself to lifelong imprisonment to The Evil Queen. Some Savior she'd turned out to be. She wiped at the wetness of her face furiously. She was stronger than that. Emma Swan was a mother fucking survivor, and this new situation presented only one more obstacle to climb. If she got Henry back and befriended Belle and Ruby again, the bleak situation improved exponentially.

A knock at the door pulled her upright once more, but she remained on the bed, too tired to move. Her stomach ate through her backbone and every single joint and inch of flesh ached. "Come in," she bade the unknown visitor. She expected Regina, but Astrid quietly entered with a tray of food and what looked like a first aid kit and sat it soundlessly upon the desk near the window.

Her kind eyes that always looked like a skittish cornered animal glanced discreetly in her direction, but her head remained bowed. Emma wanted to jump up and hug the familiar woman, but she figured that particular course of action might have freaked her out even more than her inordinate injuries.

"Queen Regina asked me to tend your wounds and help you dress," she explained after a long, awkward silence of her simply standing in one place trembling.

"I think I can get it. Thanks, though," Emma said gently to the already spooked woman.

A loud shriek and a crash echoed through the house from downstairs, and Astrid shook harder, turning her face from the door. Emma's heart softened. The poor woman practically begged her to stay without saying a word. "You're welcome to stay here until it's over," she offered.

The tension in the maid's body deflated instantly. "Could I really?" She blurted without considering to whom she spoke. As if cracked by a whip, her spine straightened and her chin dropped to her chest.

"Hey, Astrid, it's okay. I'm not her. You can talk to me like a normal person, and if she doesn't like it, then I'll deal with her, okay? I'm a slave as much as you are," Emma admitted sadly, and Astrid's head raised slowly. Their eyes met, and understanding passed between them.

"May I check your wounds while I wait? My hands like to be busy when they fight like this," the meek woman explained. Emma nodded and laid back on the bed.

Astrid set to the task, calming visibly now that she worked towards a feasible goal aside from merely hiding from the raging storm below them. Her nimble fingers moved so tenderly over the wounds that Emma barely felt them at all, and she made a mental note to allow Astrid to tend her wounds in the future.

"The Queen always seems to have some urgent errand for me just before she and her mother do battle," the former nun babbled, filling the silence to alleviate her anxiety.

Emma propped her head on an arm and studied the now serene face of her caregiver. A softness shone in her eyes when she spoke of Regina's actions, and Emma pondered the reaction for a moment. It was sincere. "You like her? Regina?"

"I…" Astrid stopped and stared in the distance for a moment, hands idle while she gathered her thoughts. "I respect her." The answered surprised both of them, and Astrid set to work once more, distracting her mind with the actions of her hands.

"How come?"

Astrid smiled bashfully. "She's been through so much that the commoners know nothing about," she explained and dabbed lightly at a whip gash. "You'll hear things in this house that will give you nightmares. They certainly gave The Queen her share."

"Nightmares?"

"Oh yes, I served as her chambermaid the first 25 years of the curse. She awoke screaming some nights. Sometimes she cries out for Daniel, but mostly she just screams." The clumsy fairy applied fresh gauze and retreated into her own mind, remembering those terrifying nights when her turn came round to calm the distraught queen.

"You know about Daniel?" Emma asked after digesting the information.

Astrid swallowed and nodded. "Like I said, you hear things in this house." Ghostly fingers pressed on a piece of paper tape and then fell still. "All done," she smiled.

"Thanks, Astrid. For that and for talking to me. It helps to just talk to someone sometimes," Emma said with a weary tremble in her hoarse voice.

Astrid ducked her head in agreement. "It does."

A door slammed, shaking the wall that connected her room to Regina's. Thumps and muttered curses filtered through the plaster and paint, and Emma looked to Astrid for guidance. The former fairy nodded, understanding immediately.

"I'd wait until she stops throwing things. Of course, that's a given," Astrid laughed self-consciously at the obvious comment and shook her head. "She usually rages until she cries, so when you can't hear her anymore, she's probably crying. She never makes a peep," she explained and jumped when something slammed against the wall.

Emma held no intention of comforting the distraught woman. Regina made her own decisions, and now she dealt with the consequences. She'd not been explicitly ordered to go to her when she was upset. In fact, she'd not been given any orders aside from going to Council. She sat up, wincing all the way.

"Astrid, I think I will take you up on that offer to help me dress, if you don't mind."

The maid nodded enthusiastically, content to remain within the relative safety of Emma's room. She helped the blonde to her feet and pulled a light grey with pink polka dots pajama set from the dresser. She must have folded and put away her clothes unless they had all been trained to store them a certain way. Emma turned her back, and Astrid unhooked her bra before sliding the baggy cotton button up sleep shirt over her arms. Emma latched the buttons and smiled gratefully at the former nun.

"Thanks, I think I got it from here. You're welcome to stay if you'd like until things calm down a little more," she offered, and the maid eagerly sat on her bed, unwilling to relinquish her hiding spot if Emma allowed her to stay.

Emma struggled out of her ruined jeans and into the matching cotton pants, certain that she'd never worn anything to bed before that matched. Astrid sat quietly, waiting, and Emma devoured her food. Ten minutes into her tantrum and all the way through Emma's dinner, Regina quieted. Astrid stood silently.

"Thank you," she whispered, afraid of being overheard.

"Anytime." Emma dismissed the gratitude and then added, "No, seriously, anytime. I really like having someone to talk to." The maid smiled bashfully and took her leave and the tray without another word. Emma prayed that Cora left her alone when she returned to the kitchen, but it seemed unlikely. In her physical condition, she was helpless to stop it, but she figured Astrid had avoided the wrath of the Mills women during her 30 years of service.

With a glance to the door that connected her room with Regina's, Emma hobbled to the light switch and shrouded the room in darkness with a flip. If she must live in servitude, she determined to do it her own damn way. Without explicit instructions otherwise, sleeping right now seemed like the perfect way to end her day and Regina be damned. Her world disappeared in the blink of an eye, and the strength she harbored lasted long enough to get her to the bed

Exhaustion took over too quickly for Emma to wallow in the guilt of refusing to comfort a woman who had been her friend. Henry remained her top priority, and until he was recovered, Emma's heart held no room for anyone else's baggage but her own.


	6. Domination

Holy wow! So many followers and most of them new "faces" I've never seen before. Welcome aboard the crazy train. Please keep your hands and feet out of the aisles because you never know when I'm going to come streaking through screaming and detonating firecrackers underneath your seat, and if you feel the need to touch your neighbor (which I highly encourage), make sure it is welcomed and pleasant.

That said, bless you for the reviews, and enjoy!

Song: Mz. Hyde by Halestorm

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><p>Emma woke suddenly when the door to her room crashed against the wall. blinding light flooded into the darkness of her room, temporarily disabling her. Graham and three other men filed in purposefully. One ripped the blanket off before she thought to move and the other grabbed her ankles, jerking her already abused body to the foot of the bed.<p>

"Graham, what the hell are you doing?" She yelled, uncaring if she alerted the whole damn household. Adrenaline tore through her as her fight response kicked into hyper drive. Regina ordered this. Graham never took a step without her approval.

When he came into reach, she jabbed the heel of her hand into the nose of the guard who held her ankles. The sickening _crunch pop_ of his nose breaking gave her satisfaction. Her stomach and chest pulled, wounds cracking open as she delivered a right hook into his jaw and then kicked both feet into his chest. He stumbled, crashed into the dresser and slumped to the floor, leaving an indentation in the drywall from the impact.

One of the guards jumped onto the bed behind her during the distraction and snagged her arms at the elbows. When he jerked them back, she cried out as every single gash on her chest split open with the stretching of her skin. A black bag slid over her head by Graham's hands, and a drawstring tightened around her throat. She struggled and lashed out with her feet fruitlessly. A sharp blow to the side of her head sent her back to the world of unconsciousness.

The first thing she felt when she woke was cold. A damp, musty draft brushed against her neck and froze the blood now soaked through her shirt. Shame, she actually liked the matching pajama set. Restraints held her arms securely behind her. Metal bit into her wrists, and she leaned back, alleviating the pressure that had held her upright. A faint _tink_ of water dripped out a slow beat somewhere behind her, and a groan from her throat joined as the refrain. Slowly, swollen green eyes split open to search the room where she'd been placed.

Dark stone walls surrounded her with a thick metal door as the only visible entrance and exit directly in front of her. A tiny window about the size of a square foot had been crudely cut at the top and secured with bars and a flap of metal for opening from the outside. A single bulb hung from the center of the ceiling just above her head. The dull wattage barely lit the entire room. Dirt and grime covered the floor. Mine dust, Emma realized. The scent, the dark rocks, the dripping water.

"Welcome back." Regina's slippery voice traced a chilled finger up her spine.

A rustling of fabric behind her told Emma the relative location, but when she craned her sore neck, all she glimpsed was a hint of her skirt in the darkness. She gave up and rolled her neck from side to side, alleviating the aches caused by hanging it against her chest while unconscious. How long had she been out anyway?

"What the hell are you doing, Regina?" Emma demanded, sounding far more confident than she felt. She blew her chance, which meant Henry remained lost and Belle remained in jail forever.

"I was under the impression that you wished to experience life as my personal prisoner, Dear," Regina answered in a sickly sweet voice that made Emma shiver again. She'd used that voice a minute before she tore into her like a rabid animal in the isolation room.

"Seriously? You have a dungeon in the mines?" She griped, unwilling to show Regina how much fear she actually felt. Her heart galloped and her hands shook in the shackles holding them in place, and Emma forced slow, deep breaths into her lungs in attempt to settle both.

"A repugnant location, it's true," Regina said whimsically. "Rather appropriate, however, for the human rodents of my kingdom."

Emma rolled her eyes. Regina toyed with her, she realized. She had no intention of leaving her in this shit hole. Emma only needed to play her cards right and she was on her way back to her cozy bed and Astrid's gentle ministrations caring for her wounds. Anger covered the fear, and as her heart calmed, her head cleared.

Regina stepped into her vision as she opened her mouth to speak. It clicked shut at the unreadable expression in The Queen's eyes. They held the searching gaze for a moment before Regina smirked at her confusion, enjoying ever second of this game. Her pet learned to play by the rules or be punished. She hiked her skirt and sat on Emma's knees, forearms on her shoulders.

Craning her neck to maintain eye contact, the blonde leaned back, pressing her shoulder blades into the chair. Regina's smirk grew into a malicious smile, and Emma swallowed roughly. Surely a point to all of this surfaced any moment now. When nothing became apparently, she shifted slightly, better accommodating the extra weight that had settled in to stay for an extended period. She hoped Regina remembered nothing of this when she set the timeline right. She imagined the conniption shit fit the uptight mayor threw if she did.

An amused eyebrow raised. Apparently, she'd pleased her mistress. Soft fingertips brushed the lump on the side of her head, and Regina pouted those plump red lips at the injury. "I do apologize for… _taking_ you so brutally, My Pet." Emma shivered at the inflection upon that word, and Regina's devilish smile returned.

A slightly trembling hand hovered over her shirt, and green eyes flicked to it before returning to those black orbs studying every bared emotion on her face. At the encouragement of Regina's magic, a large plastic button detached from her shirt and clattered to the floor. The hand moved lower. More buttons followed, each one clinking and echoing faintly in the silent room, save for the dripping of water behind her.

Regina grew more excited by the second. Her bare thighs quivered against Emma's, breasts bouncing beneath that ridiculously tight corset as her breathing increased. The emotion vein popping on her forehead with the heightening of Regina's blood pressure surprised Emma the most. As the last button fell, she flicked her wrist one way and then the other, parting the shirt to hang off Emma's defined shoulders and exposing her captive's ruined chest and beautiful breasts. Emma gasped when her nipples hardened traitorously in the chilly air.

"Regina," she whispered. Her voice cracked and squeaked in a high pitch, and she cleared the glob of emotion and adrenaline blocking it. "Regina, what are you doing?"

The Queen slipped a thin finger beneath a patch of gauze smoothly, completely undeterred by the blood soaking through it. "Training," she said absently and jerked the finger upward. The gauze and tape ripped from her skin, and Emma winced, sucking air through clenched teeth.

"Teaching," Regina elaborated further and yanked another piece of gauze away. Emma grunted, chest heaving with the effort of remaining silent through the pain. A deceptively gentle fingertip brushed the exposed gash, and Emma relaxed. Regina smirked and searched her eyes, lapping up ever reaction. Without warning, two fingers poked into her flesh on either side of the gash situated atop swell of her left breast. The wound split anew as Regina slowly added pressure to either side of it.

Emma whimpered and jerked at the restraints. Fresh blood wept over her pert nipple and dripped onto her belly. The pressure ceased, and Emma slumped into the chair. The pad of Regina's middle finger traced the wound lightly, gathering the hot liquid seeping from the wound. Emma jerked involuntarily when the crimson covered finger disappeared into Regina's mouth. Dark eyes fluttered blissfully.

When she deemed the digit suitably cleaned, Regina opened her eyes to find hazy green staring up at her. Curious and confused but not afraid. "And that's the difference between a slave…" her finger traced the wound again, "… and a pet."

The sticky finger tapped the center of Emma's top lip and trailed to the tip of her chin. Her stomach tightened. She knew what came next, and her body shocked the hell out of her when she realized that she wanted it. A thin hand wrapped around her throat, squeezing lightly. Regina leaned forward, and the blonde tipped her chin, seeking the contact just out of her reach. Regina's nose twitched slightly as she fought the involuntary sneering of her lip. Breath puffed over her lips, cooling the warm blood as Regina's parted.

Dark eyes flicked back and forth every couple of second, searching her eyes for something Regina hadn't yet named. "Slaves," she started as nails scratched up Emma's side, "don't have a choice because they live in fear. You don't live in fear."

Emma clamped teeth onto her bottom lip, tasting blood. Regina's warm hand and sharp nails stopped just short of her breast. The Savior wanted to scream, to beg her to stop, to inform her of how very wrong this was on so many levels, but her body overruled propriety. She simply stared and bit her lip and wished for Regina's lips upon her own.

Her arms jerked painfully in the shackles when Regina cupped the bottom of her breast and angled it up, her own blood glistening like a flashing red beacon upon her nipple. A hot wet tongue flicked across the diamond bud. A moan echoed off the walls. Regina smirked. A hiss followed the echo when teeth struck the sensitive nerve bundle, scraping and pulling as Regina straightened her spine once more.

Emma opened her mouth to speak. The hand on her neck tightened as a finger pressed onto her lips. The Queen leaned into her until wet lips brushed the shell of her ear. "No one can do for you what I can do, Emma Swan."

"Regina," she choked around the constriction on her throat. Regina loosened her hold and leaned back to catch Emma's eyes. Defiance that had been previously absent burned there brightly. "Go to hell, you sick fuck," the blonde woman rasped, chest heaving with the effort.

Regina smirked. She had expected nothing less from her pet. "We'll see," she chirped and slid from Emma's knees, not one bit flustered by the display of resistance. She sucked on her bloodied finger as she left the room, and Emma bit her tongue to keep from begging to be released.

The Queen whirled at the last moment and held the door. "For each day you make me break you, a day is added to Miss French's prison sentence and I refuse the search for your son. You made an agreement, Miss Swan."

"An agreement that said nothing about being a fucking prostitute lapping at the hand of my sugar mama," Emma pointed out.

Regina laughed haughtily, and Emma fantasized about ripping her throat out with only her dull fingernails. "Do not delude yourself, Dear. Any one of my guards will happily service me and often. It is not your body I desire, no matter how much you enjoyed my touch."

Emma bristled. There was no denying that statement, not even if she ignored the gathering pool of wetness between her thighs: A part of her wanted to be dominated, and she desired Regina's control. "Then what's with the dominatrix display? What the fuck do you want? I don't understand what I'm supposed to do," Emma faltered in her anger, genuinely seeking answers.

"Power, Miss Swan. I have it, you don't." Regina waved around the room, answering her first question. "The sooner you accept that, the easier your life shall become."

"As for what I demand of you, you devoted your life to me when you accepted that bracelet. If I am upset, you will come to me. If I strike you, you will accept it without protest, and if I strap you to my bed and pound that pretty little pussy of yours, I'd expect you to enjoy it," Regina explained calmly, not frazzled at all by what just occurred between them.

This was not the Regina she knew, and yet, Emma found no large fissure between the jump from this Regina to the one she left behind. Madame Mayor totally could have had a sex dungeon in her basement for all she knew. She chuckled at the thought. It actually made a lot of sense. Regina squinted at the odd reaction, unhearing of the blonde's thoughts. She flipped her finger, snapping a tiny whip lash on Emma's thigh, barely enough to sting. Emma glared.

"So, why don't you do that instead of talking about it? You've made it perfectly clear that my consent is a courtesy, so why not just take what you obviously want?" Emma's anger flared again, and she did nothing to thwart it. She wanted her son and her freedom and her life back. This wasn't living. She'd never live again from that moment.

"I am not in the habit of raping women, and as I stated, it is not your body I desire but your mind, your honesty. When dealing with affairs of the body, I will not force your hand, but you are a highly attractive woman, Miss Swan. I shall not refrain from acting upon a desire until you explicitly refuse my advances." Regina's eyes massaged her body as she spoke, and Emma fought the shiver.

The Queen had been right about one thing. No one could do or had done what Regina had just done to her. If she'd kept her damn velvet tongue still, at least in the form of words, Regina stood a fantastic chance of finishing what she started. Though not well known, Emma Swan had enjoyed the company of many women. None quite as striking or as large a pain in the ass as Regina Mills, but she'd delighted in their brief meetings all the same.

"Why?" Emma demanded, and Regina stared icily. The Savior huffed in frustration. "Why do you want my mind? Exactly what is it that you think I can offer you?"

Regina smirked. "A queen need never reason herself to slaves." With that, she turned and stalked down the dark corridor. She had no true destination, but the dramatic effect pulled a guttural squall of frustration from her pretty pet that echoed all the way through the heavy door and into the tunnel. A slew of indistinguishable curses followed.

Alerted by the yelling, Graham met her near the middle of the tunnel, and she grabbed a handful of his shaggy brown hair in clawed fingers. He understood immediately. With a hike of her skirt and a zip of his trousers, he pressed her against the cold damp stone and satisfied his mistress.

Unlike Emma, he had no choice.


	7. Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?

Bless you, my beauties. I loved the conflicting reviews of the last chapter. It means I'm doing something right if you're a little off kilter. For those concerned about Regina's behavior, ahhh have I ever let you down, My Doves?

Enjoy, My Sweets! And as always, I'm interested to hear your comments and criticisms.

Songs: Private Parts by Halestorm

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><p>"Do you wanna build a snowman?" Emma sang hoarsely. She screamed and hollered until her throat ached, but Regina never returned. At least she knew that Regina intended to break her instead of giving up on her completely. If she knew one thing about Regina Mills, once that woman set her mind to something, she completed it. She'd find Henry and release Belle.<p>

Her chin dropped against her chest and immediately jerked up as she woke from the sudden movement. "Come on, let's go and play," she mumbled, keeping herself awake.

"I never see you anymore. Come out the door. It's like you've gone away," Emma continued. Her head drooped again, and her neck protested with a jerk and a twinge.

"We used to be best buddies, and now we're not. Will somebody tell me why?" Tears burned the back of her throat. "Regina," she whispered. The child's song affected her more deeply than it should have. The parallel to her life freaked her out and struck a geyser of grief that exploded from a fissure that cracked open in her soul. She'd loved Regina in some way, as the mother of her child, the woman who raised him, as a friend. She was gone, and Emma had no clue how to fix it.

The tears dripping onto her cheeks frustrated her, but with her hands bound, nothing wiped them away. "Regina, please I know you're in there. People are asking where you've been," she sang terribly. She wanted her life back. She wanted her son. She was better than this, right? Stronger. She'd lost everything again, and no one but her knew it. No one believed her, except maybe Belle, but the librarian offered no actual magical skill in regards to setting the timeline right.

"They say have courage and I'm trying to. I'm right out here for you, just let me in." Regina ached as much as she did. Astrid already confided that she experienced nightmares often.

What in the hell scared the most powerful woman known to man and fairytale creatures alike so badly that she woke up screaming? Could Regina open the portal if she convinced her that the alternate reality she messed up was much better than the one she inadvertently created? Would she let Cora go? Despite her deeply rooted hatred for the woman, Regina loved her mother desperately in a way only an adult child who had never received any parental affection could. The tragic loneliness of Regina's ivory tower struck another emotional chord within her chest.

"We only have each other," she continued. Regina wanted her honesty, which translated to friendship in normal, everyday speech. "It's just you and me. What are we gonna do? Do you wanna build a snowman?"

"What on earth would I need with a snowman?" The sharp tongue of The Queen startled Emma from her reverie. Emma flinched at the voice she most desired and dreaded to hear in that moment. No matter how much pain she was physically capable of enduring, mentally a part of her feared The Evil Queen. She raised her head drowsily and glared at the other woman through the bars of the hole at the top of the door, unwilling to show that fear. How much had Regina actually heard?

"Take me home," Emma said. Her voice rasped but did not waver. The extreme tactics meant to break her hadn't. She'd merely arrived at a decision. She was The Savior, and no one benefited from her imprisonment, least of all her son.

The door opened with an echoing screech. Regina appeared rested and fresh. The black dress with her blood on the skirt had been changed to a leather pants outfit, better suited for riding a horse than running a kingdom. The knee-high boots tapped lightly, proceeding The Queen's entrance.

"Have you learned anything?" Regina queried, confused by the sudden demeanor switch. Defiance burned like red coals in the blonde woman's eyes, but she consented. It confused her, and Regina hated feeling confused.

"Plenty," Emma clipped and adjusted her cramping shoulders. "How long have I been down here?"

"Including the time spent unconscious, nearly 20 hours." Regina's eyes narrowed curiously, but she refrained from asking exactly what Emma learned. Giving the ridiculous song she sang, Regina wasn't sure she wanted to know. Emma Swan was different, and she cared for her if the little ditty indicated anything. A sliver of guilt for her harsh treatment wormed into her belly, but she squashed it. She was The Queen. She needn't feel guilt for anything.

"Damn it, woman, take these fucking shackles off. My shoulders are dying, literally. I don't think I'm ever getting feeling back in them," Emma complained, squirming in her chair.

"Answer my question first," Regina compromised. Everything was a compromise. It exhausted Emma and thrilled The Queen, bloody brilliant. The Savior nodded after a moment. "Why the sudden change? You're much more resilient than what you've endured." How sweet of her to notice, Emma sassed in bitter silence.

Emma shrugged her numb shoulders, regretting the movement instantly. "I'm hungry. I'm cold. I'm tired. And I'm not doing anyone any good sitting here in the mines being stubborn. Do not misinterpret my agreement to this ridiculous arrangement as giving up. I'm still going to fight you every step of the way, but you're probably the only person who can make things right, so I probably shouldn't piss you off too much."

Regina considered the explanation with pursed lips. Emma stared at them, fixated on the flesh tone free of lipstick. Green eyes studied her face closely in the dim light. All of Regina's makeup had been removed. The skin around Regina's eyes tightened under the scrutiny, mistaking Emma's fascination for judgment. She cleared her throat, catching the blonde's attention.

"I assume you refer to your outlandish allegation that the timeline has been somehow altered," she confirmed with a hard edge in her voice.

"It's the truth. How else could I possibly know what I know?" Emma asking, hoping to prove a point.

"According to Mother, you may be a spy for the White Kingdom rebels who paid off one of my closest guard in exchange for information. Your extensive and rather uncanny knowledge of me and my secrets intrigues me, I'll admit, but her theory seems much more plausible." Regina observed her reaction, or lack thereof, closely.

Emma simply stared, unblinking. After a moment, she snorted and adjusted her shoulders again. "Don't you control the hearts to all of your personal guard?"

Regina's lip twitched with the hint of a smirk, and Emma wondered if she laughed at her or Cora. "I do," she confirmed.

Boots tapping, Regina crossed to the center of the room. Emma scrambled to maintain eye contact, her back hitting the chair with a throbbing jolt. "Brace yourself," Regina cautioned as she waved her hand, releasing Emma from her bonds.

Without the pressure supporting her spent and shaking body, Emma fell forward with a whimper. Regina caught her by the shoulders. Emma flailed, punching at Regina's hips with the heels of her hands in an attempt to escape the royal's grasp. Regina held the squirming captive patiently. She hadn't expected the violent reaction and realized a moment too late that Emma trembled because of her touch, not the pain or blood rushing back to her hands.

Hot guilt punch Regina in the stomach with the force of a spiked mace, and she released the other woman, stepping out of her reach. Emma fell forward suddenly, her atrophied muscles unable to hold her weight without support. Out of instinct, Regina leapt forward again, catching Emma before she toppled from the chair, and guided the exhausted woman's chest and head to her hips and stomach for support. Emma winced and groaned into her belly, and Regina wrapped a tender hand around the back of her neck. The sudden gentleness in the woman who only a few hours ago tore open one of her wounds just for the pleasure of making her bleed unnerved her. It felt wonderful and terrified her at the same time.

"If I intended to harm you, I'd have kept you bound," Regina ground out hatefully, more angry with herself than Emma. Resilience coexisted with fear everyday. She was living proof of that. She never wanted Emma to fear her, only obey.

Emma whimpered as she relaxed against the body keeping her face from smacking against the floor. She'd often sought such intimacy with Regina her friend without gaining any traction. This Regina offered it as freely as she offered a swift punishment if she thought her pet merited either. Within a minute, she regained Regina's favor, which felt much better physically than her wrath. How long until she lost it again?

"Regina, I'm not going to be quiet. I hope you know that," Emma warned the woman currently holding her upright. She opened her eyes and glanced up at the dark ones staring down at her. Bright light blinded her momentarily as she acclimated to her surroundings. The cold, damp air suddenly heated by several degrees. The hard seat gave way to the plush of a mattress.

Regina grinned at the comment. "I'd expect nothing less, Emma Swan."

"Then you really need to stop locking my ass up every time I get feisty. It's getting old," Emma sniped. Demands sounded utterly ridiculous in her current position. Regina held her upright with a warm hand on the back of her neck, soothing the previous display of absolute violence.

"You're too wild to control without drastic measures," Regina countered, a hint of amusement in her voice. "We have much in common."

Those warm hands worked beneath the ruined fabric of her shirt and trailed down her throbbing shoulders and arms unnecessarily. Emma shivered into the intimate contact but said nothing. While it felt odd and slightly disconcerting to be touched in such a manner by the woman who looked and behaved as her friend, Emma wasn't uncomfortable or violated, so she allowed it. It was like Stockholm Syndrome in reverse. She wanted Regina to care about her. She wasn't incapable of it, no matter what anyone thought, and the more she cared, the higher Emma's chance of survival increased.

"Would you prefer a bath to simply being cleaned?" Regina asked graciously.

"A shower would be awesome. Maybe in the morning. I'm way too exhausted to stand up right now," Emma answered honestly.

Regina nodded. "Very well. Lie back." Emma obeyed and held her exposed breasts, immediately setting the tone of the evening.

Regina quirked an amused eyebrow and conjured a first aid kit with an elegant wave over the bed. Emma thought the gesture better suited the ritual of chanting over a cauldron but withheld the snarky comment about Hocus Pocus bubbling in her chest. If The Queen saw her smirk, she ignored it as she tucked a leg beneath her and sat on the bed near Emma's hip.

Each piece of tape stuck to her skin peeled away gently, a stark contrast to the harsh removal only hours ago. Regina's forehead bunched in concentration, and Emma studied each emotion that flickered in her eyes. Guilt never appeared. Regina felt completely justified in her violence. She always had, Emma realized, even as her Regina.

"Doesn't it get old?" She blurted without meaning to and waited for the backlash.

Regina hummed, glancing to her eyes briefly before returning full attention to her work. "What's that, Dear?"

"The fighting. The constant struggle to keep power. It's been 30 years. Aren't you tired?" Emma tentatively approached the subject the softest way possible. Her body tensed without her permission, and Regina's hand stilled.

"Queens do not have such a luxury," she answered cryptically.

Emma sighed heavily, body relaxing as Regina continued to dab and rub at dried blood. "Everyone has their curse name, but they know about the curse. Why?"

"You are truly testing my resolve that you are not a spy, aren't you, Miss Swan?" A cold glare stopped the flow of words at Emma's lips, and she clamped her teeth shut with a click. Regina sighed deeply.

"A part of the curse broke nearly ten years ago, enabling the memory of both lives," she explained without looking up again.

"How?"

"A part of my happy ending came true, I suppose: The capture of Snow White and Prince Charming."

"They're alive?" Emma nearly jerked upright but stopped the motion at the last second. Regina's eyes narrowed. Emma swallowed, not daring to blink lest she be teleported back to that horrible room in the mines or the isolation room filled with the rot of human flesh.

"They're important to you," Regina concluded and sat back on the bed, wounds forgotten. The royal blanched, and Emma thought for a moment she might get covered in puke.

"I knew them before I screwed up the timeline," she offered a half truth and hoped Regina accepted it. The Queen tossed a used piece of gauze onto the bed with more force than necessary. Hurt danced across her face exactly one second before she shut it down.

"I'll send Astrid with dinner. She can finish," Regina stated regally and slipped from the bed, adjusting her riding jacket as she strode towards the door.

"Regina, please wait. Let me explain," Emma begged. She really, really desired not to be jerked out of bed in the middle of the night again.

The royal stopped with her hand on the doorknob but did not look back. Her shoulders coiled and bunched with tension. "There is nothing to explain."

"Yes, there is. I was your friend, too. We were raising a son together, the same kid I'm doing this for right now. He's out there somewhere, and he needs us. This other world…" Emma struggled upright, her pain suddenly forgotten. "It's better, Regina. I need your help to get back to it."

"And what of me?" She screeched harshly, whipping back towards the vile blonde woman. Emma had no answer. Would this reality continue even if she returned to the normal timeline? The time-space continuum confused geniuses, how the hell was she supposed to understand its inner workings? She needed Belle.

Regina snorted and rolled her eyes. This presented the perfect example for why she never dared to hope. She seemed destined to be constantly kicked in the teeth by life. "I'll send Astrid. You seem quite agreeable to her. I'll have her reassigned as your personal maid."

"Regina, wait," Emma pleaded again, but only a faint click of the door answered her. "Damn it!" She flopped onto the bed, spilling the first aid kit everywhere. She ignored it and lay amongst the unopened gauze pads and band aides and antiseptic wipes, a blatant reminder of her future. She was the pet of The Evil Queen. Her future held an inordinate amount of gauze pads.

"Two steps forward, one giant foot in the mouth back," Emma muttered. Every time she landed on solid ground with Regina, it turned into quick sand.

A light tap on the door pulled a genuine grin to her face. Even if she never puzzled out this Regina, Astrid quickly became her favorite person in the world to see. "Come in."

"This is the urgent matter which draws my staff from her dinner duties," Cora's serpentine voice slithered into the room a moment before the door banged against the wall. "A girl who can't be bothered to answer the door properly or even dress for the occasion?"

Emma rolled her eyes and struggled to her feet, uncaring of her partial nudity. This bitch stepped on the last raw nerve she'd retained throughout the 20 hour punishment in the mines. From the new vantage point, she glimpsed a terrified Astrid at Cora's shoulder. A red handprint marked her cheek, and tears shimmered in the girl's kind caramel eyes. Rage tore through Emma.

Without thinking, she charged forward and took Astrid's hand, pulling her into the room and jostling Cora's equilibrium at the same time. The maid hid behind her gratefully without making a peep. Emma positioned her body between them as Cora recovered from being bumped around like a mosher at an Ozzy concert.

"Why don't you hit someone who will fight back," Emma threatened coldly. White-knuckled fists clenched at her sides.

"Emma, please, it's okay," Astrid pleaded quietly, warm hands touching her tingling shoulders.

A cool eyebrow raised at the challenge, and Cora tightened her own fist. A malicious hand gripped Emma's guts, and she fought the urge to double over. Fucking magic wielders thought they owned the goddamn world. Cora jerked her hand downwards, and Emma's knees banged viciously against the floor. Still she glared up at the woman more heinous than The Evil Queen ever hoped to become. The elder Mills' hand twisted gracefully, and Emma's stomach followed.

"Enough, Mother!" Regina ordered. The sharp words distracted Cora enough for Emma to snag a gasping breath, but the woman almost immediately returned to the task.

Regina stepped into the room, riding coat furling as she inserted herself between her mother and her tenacious pet. Violet flared in those dark eyes, and Cora faltered. Static energy crackled around the room, raising the hair on Emma's neck as her insides relaxed. Regina drew every ounce of magic available to her. Fear flashed in Cora's eyes.

"I said enough. Go back to dinner," she ordered her adviser and only confidante aside from Maleficent who could not speak back.

"You prefer that vile creature to your own mother? Look what she's done to us already, Regina," Cora protested in a suddenly soft and motherly tone. The static in the room dropped. Regina probably believed the manipulative force in the form of her mother.

"I can't break what's already in a thousand pieces, lady," Emma rasped from her hands and knees. Astrid dropped to the floor beside her and touched her shoulders, shushing her lightly.

Cora opened her mouth again. Regina was faster. "Go back to dinner, Mother," she repeated with slightly less bite. Cora's eyes narrowed savagely, and Emma grinned up at her, poking the sleeping dragon as she always did.

With a huff, Cora turned abruptly and stormed towards the stairs. Emma chuckled, finding far more satisfaction than she should have in the reaction. Regina glared over her shoulder without turning. The bubble of laughter popped in Emma's chest.

"See that she eats, Astrid," she barked and then stalked from the room without closing the door. Emma winced at the abrupt exit and then again when Regina's door slammed, shaking the wall that separated their rooms.

"Damn it," Emma muttered, head hanging between her shoulders. Would she never decipher Regina Mills?


	8. Adult Child

Thank you, everyone, for the reviews. These characters are so complex, and I spend a lot of time thinking about them and tweaking their reactions and interactions. It's wonderful to know that my hard work is appreciated and that you love these characters as much as I love writing them.

That said, please enjoy yourselves. As always, I'm interested in your thoughts and criticisms.

Songs: Hammer and a Nail by Indigo Girls (for whatever reason, I just saw Regina's inability to be physically close in this song)

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><p>Emma stared at the ceiling. Light peeped through the lace curtains on the balcony door, but she hadn't yet found the motivation to move from the incredibly comfortable bed. She propped both arms behind her head and stared. Her mind ran a million miles a minute, but each thought sprinted through too quickly to grasp fully, making it seem as though she thought nothing at all.<p>

A knock at the door pulled her attention but not her eyes. "Come in," she called hoarsely. Her abused vocal cords rasped and cracked as though she lost her voice due to a cold.

She expected Astrid. She got Regina. "Good morning, Emma. Did you sleep well?"

"I guess," Emma answered, unable to shake the funk her mood had fallen into. She had not even the energy to ponder The Queen's presence, performing the job of a servant, no less.

"Are you in pain?" Regina asked and carefully sat a tray of what appeared to be coffee on the desk silently.

"Not unless I move," Emma answered honestly. She'd always excelled in handling physical pain, so the obstacle of coping with it wasn't what kept her glued to the warm, cozy indentation she'd made in the mattress during her death-like sleep the previous night. Considering the abduction and Cora's threat, she expected a sleepless night, but exhaustion made for wonderful sleeping.

"Is that the reason you continue to lie there like a lump despite the fact that your queen has entered with a tray of coffee and breakfast?" Regina grouched, displeased with the events of the morning. Not that she'd expected much. She tortured Emma for 20 hours and then refused to speak with her. Her pet had reason to be cross with her, but that fact remained unspoken. She refused to sincerely apologize.

Emma snorted at the underlying irritation. Carrying trays was considered beneath Regina. It served as her version of an apology, probably the best and only one she'd receive. "Nope. Just thinking. Where's Astrid?" Had Cora done something to the girl the previous night after their little showdown?

"I gave Astrid the morning off. She is visiting with friends and family," Regina explained and poured a cup of coffee. Emma finally glanced in her direction as the aroma wafted towards the bed. She wore similar pants as the previous night, though they appeared to be of a softer fabric than the creaking leather, and a maroon shirt of a breathable fabric tucked in tightly.

"Far enough away to give Cora time to cool off, you mean?" Regina sat primly in the chair by the desk and crossed her legs rather than respond.

"That shirt goes really well with your skin. You should wear that color more often," she complimented her mistress. Regina jerked, barely controlling the coffee cup enough to stop the liquid from jostling out. She stared hard at Emma, looking for ultimatums or hidden agendas in the simple statement. Emma's forehead furrowed as if to say, "Really?"

Regina cleared her throat softly and straightened her spine, clearly uncomfortable. "Thank you."

Emma offered a close-lipped smile, eyebrows raising slightly. Regina was almost pathetic in that moment. The woman exuded buckets of sexual confidence and absolute domination as The Queen, but as a woman, she severely lacked self-esteem from the years of emotional abuse from her mother. Emma knew this already from her own Regina, so this version only confirmed it. "You're welcome," she whispered and resumed staring at the ceiling.

Regina sipped her coffee, and a comfortable silence settled over them. They'd always been comfortable in the silence with each other. Regina refilled her cup, and the scent finally urged Emma to sit up in the bed and lean against the giant headboard. Wordlessly, Regina stood and moved the tray to the bed within Emma's reach and retreated to the safety of the desk chair. The Queen's calmness freaked her out slightly, but she reached for the coffee anyway. If Regina drank it, then at least it wasn't poisoned or cursed.

"If it means a great deal to you, I can offer a small monthly stipend," Regina blurted suddenly. It was Emma's turn to nearly spill coffee all over in surprise. "Though, I see no point to not take advantage of my offer to procure the items you currently need or want. You may keep a record and pay me back if you are too proud to accept what you perceive as charity." Emma stared with an unreadable expression, so Regina babbled nervously.

"Graham selected a few things I mentioned yesterday. Allow a moment for me to retrieve them from my room," she said as she stood and crossed to the connecting door. It remained open when she returned with three bags, which she sat on the side opposite the tray.

She exhibited the items obsessively from the largest to the smallest box, and Emma frowned at the obvious display of compulsion but remained silent on the subject. Instead, she studied the items: a brand new Mac laptop, an Ipod and fancy dock, various headphones and extensions for the Ipod, including one for a vehicle, and a cell phone.

"I charged the phone and programmed my number, and Graham's and Astrid's and Horace's. He's your personal guard and will accompany you everywhere, no exceptions," she ordered firmly, and Emma nodded. In this reality, The Savior never existed. Emma Swan served as The Evil Queen's personal pet, and as such may be viewed as an enemy of the people.

"Thank you, Regina. This is great, really," Emma expressed her gratitude with a carefully placed hand on Regina's hanging limply at her side. Regina jerked at the initiated contact, and the blonde released her immediately. Jumpy, she thought. Not that she expected anything else from the emotionally stunted queen. She'd probably not felt a gentle touch that she hadn't ordered since Daniel's death.

Regina cleared her throat and stepped out of her reach, hands folded protectively in front of her hips. "I'll leave you to your morning. Horace is outside should you need anything at all. The password to the wireless is in the box with your computer. Astrid shall return near lunchtime should you require assistance with your shower. Mother will remain at Council with me the entire day, so feel free to wander the house at your leisure. Horace has orders not to allow you to leave, however, for your own safety until you've recovered."

Emma opened her mouth to protest, but Regina held up a hand. "You may sit on your balcony and in the back yard as it is fenced in and well-protected." Regina waited for Emma's nod of concession before continuing. "Mother and I shall return around six this evening. Dinner is always at seven. Please be prepared and dressed appropriately. If you need assistance, please speak with Astrid. I will escort you to the dining room at six forty-five for cocktails before our meal. Do you have any questions or need anything else before I depart?"

"Uhh," Emma stuttered and glanced around at her now full bed. "I think I have enough to keep me busy. Don't you want me to be in Council with you?"

Regina shook her head. "Not today. My assistant Stacy will visit you this afternoon to gather information to begin the search for your son. Horace knows her, and he will answer the door, not you," Regina ordered. Emma nodded immediately. It was a safety thing. Finally a theme to Regina's behavior emerged. The Queen seemed surprised by the easy concession but pushed forward anyway.

"I shall make the announcement to Council this morning of your presence, which will begin next week. We have adopted the custom of closing office to the public on Saturday and Sunday as is traditional in this world, but Mother and I usually work here in the mansion. If you'd like and can survive until then, I shall break from the norm and accompany you to any shop you wish to visit for items you still need."

Emma smiled. Regina was trying so hard, which made no sense after her abrupt exit the previous evening. She traced the apple on the white box of her laptop and studied The Queen. That color truly suited her. She tapped it twice and made a decision.

"Regina, can I ask you something?"

"I can guarantee no response, but if you must, please proceed," Regina complied neutrally, those tightly clasped hands the only emotional indicator available to The Savior.

"Why are you being so nice to me after pretty much torturing me for the last two days?"

Regina blinked rapidly, gaze averting to an undefined spot on the bed. The pause stretched so long that Emma felt certain she'd receive no response at all. She squirmed slightly and tried not to stare at the other woman. With the hurried pace of a tortoise, Regina raised her eyes to Emma's and pulled a deep breath through her nostrils.

"I don't know," she said breathily. "You mean nothing to me. You are nothing to me. I needn't be kind in order to keep you safe nor to preserve your uncanny wealth of knowledge you should not possess," Regina worked through her own thoughts aloud, surprising the hell out of Emma with the raw sincerity of the answer.

"That said, you intrigue me," Regina finished without flourish or pomp, just an honest answer.

"Why?" Emma asked, keeping the flow of conversation going for as long as possible. The reason Regina had forgiven her for the Snow and Charming slip the previous night remained shrouded in mystery, and Emma refused to bring it up again lest she be denied forgiveness a second time.

"Do you require anything else, Miss Swan?" Regina abruptly changed the subject, and Emma whiplashed from the lurching, screeching stop in conversation.

"A credit card would be nice so that I can fill up my Ipod with music. I can go ahead and order some clothes online, too, because I know that I can't get them here in Storybrooke." Emma chewed her bottom lip anxiously, unused to anyone giving her anything for free. She justified the material splurge with the reminder that she was not a free woman, and what Regina gave her came from the services she provided against her will. It wasn't free, or a gift.

Regina twirled her wrist so that her palm landed parallel to the ceiling. With a puff of purple smoke, a plastic rectangle appeared in her hand. Regina crossed the room and snapped it onto the desk, where she assumed Emma's laptop would go. She retrieved the tray and returned it to the desk, silently encouraging Emma to roll out of bed and start her day. It confused the hell out of The Savior, this change from volatile to doting in less than 12 hours.

"Regina, do you have to be at work right now? I mean, can you spare another hour?" Emma asked, studying the woman with new eyes. The Queen was so pathetically broken that The Savior's huge, forgiving heart ached for her. Just like her Regina, everything The Queen had done was to make her stay, to make her love her. Clarity slapped Emma in the face like a bag of hammers; Regina jumped from one extreme to the other because she had no clue how to behave. She tested Emma, researched what worked and what failed miserably.

"I'm The Queen, Dear. We begin when I arrive," Regina boasted, and Emma smiled. Regina had no idea how easily manipulated she was. The thought gushed guilt in her belly like the top of a janitor's mop bucket, squeezing the acid into a dirty stinking stagnant pool. Emma decided to be different from the rest.

"Well, everything hurts when I move, and they crack open and stuff when I raise my arms. Astrid won't be back for hours, and I'd really like to take a shower or a bath or whatever. Could you…" Emma pointed towards her head, completing the request with a gesture. It felt odd asking the woman to do anything for her, much less strip her down and bathe her.

"Wash your hair?" Regina finished succinctly, ending the nervous babble with three words. Emma nodded. A hint of a smile tugged at Regina's lips, but the dark woman's insecurity crushed the gesture before it formed completely.

"Of course," she replied coolly, hands clasping in front of her hips once more, containing whatever emotion flitted through her heart.

Emma pulled the covers back slowly, revealing her battered body covered in nothing but a sports bra and light cotton sleep pants with pastel green and pink stripes running down them. Regina raised an eyebrow at the ridiculous clothing, and Emma chuckled as she scooted towards the edge of the bed.

"Yeah, you should really have a chat with Graham about his choice in clothes. I mean, I know he's an oaf, but seriously," Emma lightened the conversation, and Regina stepped closer.

One hand slipped into a loose fist and bent behind her back while the other graciously offered assistance to the injured woman. Emma bit her lip, containing the laughter that surely would have sent Regina running for the hills. She felt more like Elizabeth Bennett being asked to dance by a reluctant Mr. Darcy than a slave to a fairytale character. Emma accepted Regina's hand and found her balance before letting go, afraid of scaring the woman with too much friendly physical contact.

Regina strode to the bathroom, apparently trusting Emma to follow. All business, she adjusted the taps and added some sort of scented oil from a shelf. Vanilla and strawberries filled the room as the water heated. Emma decided that she and scent got along, so she held her tongue about the pushy behavior. If survival was her desire, she learned quickly to pick her battles.

Leaving her bra in place, Emma stripped to the blue panties and kicked the hideous pants into a corner. Regina huffed indignantly at the ruffian she'd invited into her home but held her tongue. Emma ignored her and plucked at the tape holding the gauze in place while Regina dried her hands on a towel, taking far longer than necessary. Once the last piece fell into the tiny garbage can near the toilet, Emma glanced up to find Regina staring at her with an unreadable expression in her eyes.

Those cherry red lips parted, pulling deep, calming breaths into Regina's chest which moved visibly with the unnatural breathing pattern. She hung the towel on the bar attached to the wall beside the tub. Steam billowed around her, moving the shoulder length black hair against tensed shoulders. Emma wondered for the millionth time exactly what Regina thought.

"I do apologize, Miss Swan. I have forgotten a quarterly budget meeting with Council this morning. I must depart immediately," Regina stated queenly. Emma spotted the lie as bright and shiny as a meteorite heading straight for her head. Something about their situation spooked the persnickety woman.

"I thought they started when you arrived?" Emma threw the words back at her as casually as possible, sussing out Regina's abrupt mood swing.

"Yes, well, I have duties, Miss Swan. Something I take very seriously unlike those who enter agreements with no honest intention of fulfilling their obligations. Excuse me," Regina bit coldly and brushed past her.

What the hell? Emma chased her, probably not the best decision she'd made. Not that any she'd made since arriving in this world had been considered good. "Hey, whoa, hold the fuck up."

Regina paused at the door, shoulders hunched almost to her ears. With a deep breath, she turned, mask of the queen in place. "Yes, Dear? Is there something else you require?"

"Yeah," Emma barked. "How about an explanation of what the hell just happened?" Emma demand, accusatory finger flying towards the bathroom. She crossed her arms over her stomach self-consciously a moment later. She'd known this Regina for 48 hours, and she'd already bared her entire body without shame or apprehension. How could she be ashamed of it when Regina practically fucked her with those dark eyes with every glance?

"I owe you nothing of the sort," Regina answered and grabbed the golden handle on the door leading to the inside balcony.

Emma followed her across the room and slammed a hand on the door as it cracked open. The resounding echo excited a jerk from the retreating queen, and Emma almost smiled in satisfaction. Regina's eyes narrowed murderously, and Emma actually stepped away from the door but not far enough to unblock it.

"Please?" Emma pleaded.

"Move or I will move you," Regina threatened.

"Tell me what happened and I'll move," Emma compromised.

The sound registered before the sting on her cheek from the unapologetic force of the back of Regina's hand. Her head whipped to the side, jerking her achy neck into an agonizing angle. A harsh gasp burst from Emma's ruined chest as the breath she'd unconsciously held whooshed into the air between them.

"Move," she repeated in the same dangerous tone.

Emma clenched her jaws, red hot rage glowing in turbulent green eyes. _Pick your battles_, she reminded herself and stepped back. She'd pushed Regina too far, too fast. Regina bumped her chest with a pointed shoulder as she jerked open the door and stormed out. Horace flinched but remained otherwise relatively still and stoic in The Queen's wake. Emma slowly closed the door, the latch barely audible in her gentleness.

She slumped forward, banging her forehead on the cool wood as she let it support her weight. "Damn it," she muttered. The morning had started so bright.


	9. Human

WHOO! Y'all are fantastic! I love the differing responses from confusion to anger. Regina is wonderfully challenging in this story, and I'm happy that everyone is responding to that.

Enjoy, My Doves! And please, let me know what you think or of any questions you may have.

Songs: Dark Side and Behind These Hazel Eyes by Kelly Clarkson

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><p>Emma tapped lightly on the door separating her room from Regina's and adjusted her hair over her shoulders. She'd poured herself into the ridiculous dress that Astrid suggested, a silly emerald green silk number with only one shoulder. It hugged her uncomfortably, squeezing her wounds in all the wrong places, and fell just below her knees. Even more awkward, the cut displayed her hacked chest, her wounds left uncovered. Astrid covered the ones covered by the fabric but assured that displaying the wounds her mistress inflected was appropriate, a source of pride. She trusted the maid's judgment.<p>

The smooth fabric offered a generous view of her meager cleavage, which looked much larger in the padded, push-up, strapless contraption of a bra that her maid forced her into. She swore it would please The Queen, so again Emma bit her tongue and bore it, wanting more than anything to get back into Regina's good graces.

She'd even shaved her legs and pits twice for the occasion. Astrid corrected any makeup clumsiness, adding and removing lipstick and eyeliner until Emma's green eyes popped between the dark circles rimming her eyelids and the shimmering black and brown smoky eye shadow atop them. A muted, natural, light pink gloss covered her lips and tasted horribly, yet Emma bore it all. Dressing for dinner apparently set the tone for the entire evening, according to Astrid. Which meant at 6:50, five minutes after Regina swore to escort her downstairs, Emma sensed immediately that trouble brewed in the Mills household.

She knocked again. "Regina? Is it okay if I come in?"

"Yes," a faint voice replied.

With a steadying breath, Emma opened the door and tried not to fall on her face in the silver pumps that Astrid swore matched her dress perfectly. Regina sat on the edge of the giant bed in the center of the room. A sheer canopy lay on the floor around her, probably torn down during one of her many tantrums in the past two days. The Queen had already dressed in a deep red gown made of velvet. A black lace bodice cut the solid color from the shoulders to the waist, offering a teasing view of the woman's breasts through the holes in the thin fabric. Though there in persona, the woman's mind had obviously drifted far away into the clouds.

Regina held one black, peep-toe stiletto in both hands, the other on its side atop the train of the gown at her feet. Her dark eyes slowly moved to Emma's face after an awkward pause consisting of The Savior fidgeting anxiously while waiting for her mistress' approval of her evening wear. Regina drank her in, and Emma relaxed slightly under the lascivious attention.

"Your hair should be up," Regina commented absently.

"I don't like it up. Astrid said it looked fine. I'm in the damn dress, so leave my hair alone," Emma sniped, crossing her arms like a petulant child. She'd not felt anger towards Regina all day until the moment she set eyes on the woman after the undeserving slap she'd received that morning. Now her chest flushed and burned with the heat tearing through her veins.

"Come here," The Queen ordered softly and pointed to the floor in front of her. Something in Regina's distracted voice splashed water on her temper, and Emma obeyed, mostly out of curiosity. This was a new Regina, a face yet unseen.

She stopped a foot from the bed and uncrossed her arms to hang limply at her hips. Regina dropped the shoe in her hands as she reached out to Emma. Soft hands wrapped around her muscular thighs just above her knees and urged her closer. Emma's brow furrowed and her heart exploded into a thunderous beat, but a part of her whispered that Regina needed whatever she currently sought. She allowed it.

With growing apprehension, Emma raised one knee to the bed at The Queen's urging and pressed into the mattress beside Regina's hip. Hot hands squeezed her bare thighs beneath the dress as Regina leaned her forehead into the firm stomach at the perfect height in her heels. A harsh sigh tore from the back of the confusing royal's throat, fingers clawing at the skin beneath them as though Emma might have bolted. A tigress holding her prey, Emma thought suddenly. She tensed to pull away, but Regina's words stopped her.

"Just another moment," she whispered.

"Regina, are you okay?" Emma asked, completely certain she'd slipped into some whacked out version of the twilight zone.

"It's never enough," The Queen confided, but Emma hadn't a clue what she referred. She waited, pressing her hands into her thighs, unsure exactly what she should have been doing.

"What isn't enough?" Emma asked cautiously.

"The money I set aside for those living in poverty. I see them everywhere on the street, children in filthy, torn rags with dirty faces. Yet every increase I give to programs meant to help them is never enough. The money simply disappears, and I am to blame in the eyes of my kingdom for their misfortunes," Regina explained candidly. Her voice rasped and cracked, and Emma thought for a moment that Regina cried into her impossibly expensive dress.

"I take it your budget meeting sucked?" Emma offered, unsure what Regina wanted.

"Touch my hair," Regina demanded unexpectedly.

"I… okay?" Emma stuttered. Tentatively, she scratched the fingertips of both hands over Regina's scalp. Silken strands glided easily through her fingers and across her palms, and Emma repeated the action for the pleasure of feeling that immaculate hair once more. Hers constantly tangled and frizzed and was flat out unruly, just like her, but Regina's was perfect, elegant and graceful, like The Queen.

Regina sighed into her belly again. Her bunched shoulders relaxed as Emma's comfort drained the tension from her body. The hands on her thighs slipped away and reappeared on her hips. Regina squeezed lightly before sliding firm palms up her sides. Emma cleared her throat, warning the other woman before she rejected her outright. Regina teetered on some sort of edge, and Emma tried her damnedest not to push her into the precipice.

Regina froze for exactly one second, the longest second of Emma's life. Without warning, rough hands pushed her hips violently, and Emma nearly toppled over when she stumbled back several steps. Regina slipped into her heels, completely unbothered by almost accident of her new plaything, and stood. Emma just stared, anger flaring once more.

"Damn it, Regina, I'm trying. What the hell do you want?" Emma demanded and crossed her arms again. The sort-of-hug had been nice, and Regina fucked it all up because Emma hadn't wanted sexual touches.

"At the moment, I'd like a muzzle," Regina muttered darkly and stood, smoothing imaginary wrinkles from the immaculate dress. "Shall we?" She swept her arm towards the door.

Emma stared incredulously for a few seconds and then tossed her hands in the air. "Fine," she huffed and stomped towards the door, which only made her feet hurt more. She bet they'd go numb by the end of dinner.

"Miss Swan!" Regina's sharp tone stopped her cold. "We do not tromp around like bulls in heat. You will take my arm and be properly escorted. This may only be my home, but you will behave as though we are attending my coronation during dinner. Are we clear?"

Green eyes slammed shut and her fists clenched, but she stopped and waited for Regina. Heat pressed into her side from her queen's close proximity, and Emma took a steadying breath before forcing her eyes open. Regina held out her arm, and Emma begrudgingly wrapped her hand around burgundy velvet while The Queen stared straight ahead and controlled her own anger. Satisfied with Emma's obedience, she urged them forward, tucking her arm tightly against her side.

"Isn't that dress hot?" Emma asked as they reached the top of the stairs.

"Yes," Regina answered aridly, her patience frayed beyond repair.

"Then why are you wearing it? It's not like you wore it in Council all day, and your house is plenty warm," Emma asked, genuinely curious. Had Regina always dressed in her best for the simple act of dinner or was that night special because it was her first as a bonafide member of the house, if not the family? Was a pet considered family?

"It is the only piece of clothing I own that is both this color and suitable for the occasion," Regina replied nonchalantly, but her arm tense beneath Emma's. The puzzle pieces fit suddenly. She'd complimented the color of her shirt that morning, and Regina sought her approval in some weird way. Would she never figure this woman out?

The tiny revelation melted Emma's anger, reminded her of exactly what Regina endured in her life. It wasn't this bad for her version of Regina. As far as Emma knew, the woman escorting her tolerated 30 continuous years in Storybrooke with Cora as her only companion, constantly criticizing and manipulating and tearing her apart from the inside out. Regina let her, Emma knew. Her version of Regina had so desperately sought the love of her mother that she'd nearly given up her son in pursuit of something that never existed.

Emma stopped abruptly when they reached the hardwood of the foyer. Regina huffed and glared, misunderstanding Emma's motives. The Savior smiled kindly, revealing the sincerity in her eyes. "It looks great on you, Regina. You're beautiful."

Regina simply stared for an extended pause, eyes flicking back and forth slowly. Searching. Gauging. Emma held her breath. After a brief eternity, Regina cleared her throat and pulled them forward once more. Emma followed without protest.

"Yes, well, I've been told this color complements my skin tone," Regina said lightly, and an involuntary smile split Emma's face at the feeble attempt at a quip.

"I think whoever told you that sure knows what their talking about," Emma bantered, jacking the mood even higher as she glommed onto the word volley that used to come so easily between them. Regina had the best one-liners, even if they pissed her off at the time.

"On the contrary, I simply believe this person's mouth functions faster than her brain," Regina sniped, barely containing the grin threatening to commandeer her dark red lips.

Emma leaned close to her ear just before they reached the door to the dining room. "That's not always a bad thing," she teased huskily.

The flirty comment abruptly halted progress again. Out of the corner of her eye, Emma caught Astrid drop her head, a faint blush upon her cheeks. Regina glared coolly, expression unreadable. Emma floundered for exactly one second before inspiration rapped her on the head like a foam noodle. She removed her hand from Regina's arm, and The Queen stiffened. Emma smiled.

"A Queen should be escorted by the one she's chosen, not the other way around," she proclaimed, a little uncertain of herself. Astrid nodded her approval of the gesture.

Regina stared at Emma's proffered arm as if gauging the lethality of a snake coiled to strike. Another awkward and lengthy pause rubbed static onto the tension, and Emma waited as patiently and stoically as possible. The tension dropped when Regina took her arm, warm velvet gliding over bare skin. Emma shivered at the sensual contact upon the delicate flesh of her inner arm.

"You learn quickly," The Queen observed in a neutral tone, but Emma heard the underlying praise anyway.

"Couldn't have survived this long if I didn't." Emma grinned at the older woman. She desperately wished to return to her world where everything made sense, but nothing said she shouldn't try and accomplish a little good in this one. Regina required an ounce of goodness in her life. The woman's depression flashed like a damn police car in the dead of night. How had no one seen it before her? Well, Astrid might have, but she was limited in what she could actually do in order to help.

"You're late," an irate voice disrupted the light banter a moment before Cora appeared from the dining room. A icy band of tension snapped tightly around the two younger women, and they both tensed.

"Mother, I am the queen, which means I may arrive whenever I please. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to begin dinner and have an early night," Regina calmly set Cora in her place and tugged Emma forward. Entitlement and control replaced the exhausted defeat Emma saw only minutes ago, but she recognized the mask now, the deepened lines around Regina's mouth and the slight sag of her shoulders. She knew how to spot the cover up for what it was. Not that she'd ever let Cora know that.

The supercilious interloper taunted Cora with a brilliant smile and followed her mistress without hesitation. She held her head high and escorted Regina to the head of table, pulling out her chair. Regina squeezed her arm before taking her seat. Emma stood awkwardly for a moment, but Regina waved her hand to the seat to her left, directing her subtly. Emma took her seat without hesitation and immediately waved over a servant standing by with wine, wishing she knew his name. She and Regina had plenty of issues to iron out in their arrangement, but that night Emma Swan had one mission: Cora would be jealous of her daughter's doting pet.

"Wine for you queen," she asked without asking, and the man nodded. Regina quirked an eyebrow, unsure what angle Emma played but enjoying the attention.

"Thank you, Greg," Regina said quietly, inadvertently informing Emma of whom she should call if anything else was needed. Emma nodded and offered Regina a tiny smile of encouragement. Her role in Regina's life suddenly made more sense. As much as she feared showing her vulnerability, The Queen needed someone to take care of her.

"I'll have water. Thank you, Greg," Emma informed the man and then sent him away as Cora took her seat to Regina's right. She glared holes into Emma's face, and Emma made a show of taking Regina's hand atop the table. The Queen gasped silently, but Cora focused so intently on the blonde woman that she failed to notice the almost extreme reaction. Emma ignored her and focused on The Queen, trusting her to guide the conversation… or not, however they took their dinner.

"That meeting was atrocious," Cora began, and Emma bristled. She was not the fucking queen. "Rabid peasants looking for handouts to perpetuate their own laziness."

"Mother, they're not lazy. They work, all of them. The funds simply are not there," Regina countered and squeezed Emma's hand lightly. She sipped her wine, and Emma injected herself into the conversation.

"Maybe you should investigate the person responsible for the distribution of funds to the programs. If it runs through a pyramid, more often than not, someone is lining their pockets with money meant for other things," Emma suggested with a light shrug. Greg nearly dropped the salad tray he carried, and she knew that she'd stuck her foot in it again.

"That person is me, you insolent child, and you'd do well to hold your tongue in future conversations. You are meant to be played with, not spoken to," Cora explained coldly. Emma smiled at the tactic. Sure, she wasn't as experienced running a kingdom, but she knew people.

"Not tonight," Emma countered, smiled prettily, and then ignored the bitchy advisor and turned her full attention to Regina who studied her curiously. "I am not suggesting it was your mother, however, there must be others who handle that money. What harm could launching an investigation do? At least then you'd know for sure."

Regina picked up her fork and took a bite of salad, chewing thoughtfully. Emma followed suit. "The thought had crossed my mind," Regina confessed.

Emma beamed at Cora who looked as though she might have sent her fork magically flying into Emma's neck. Instead, she sat up straighter and pushed her salad around her plate in thought. "Are you honestly going to take the advice of a woman submitted after only two days of trials to your own mother and loyal advisor for your entire life?"

Emma opened her mouth to protest, but Regina was faster. "Emma remains unbroken, Mother."

"Excuse me?" Cora seethed.

"Emma in unbroken, Mother," she repeated. "I do not wish to taint her personality. I rather like her as is."

"You allow a filthy, unbroken rebel into your home, Regina?" Cora stared at her daughter. Hadn't she taught her better? "I absolutely forbid this."

"I am not a child, Mother," Regina muttered, that same defeat tugging at her shoulders.

"Don't worry, Cora. I'm not going to break into your room and lick your face at night," Emma said, comparing herself to a dog. "Although, it'd be amusing," she added for extra kick, pulling the attention back to herself. Regina's lips tugged upward forcefully against her tight control. She almost smiled at the visual Emma painted.

"You vile, impudent creature," Cora whispered in a high pitched tone. "Do you honestly think when Regina grows bored of your constant insurrection that she will not toss you back into the mines? You are a bug. You are not privileged, and when Regina's passion runs out for your audacity, you will be less than you are now. Pets do not get released. Pets become political prisoners because of the intimate knowledge they gain during the course of their duties."

Emma jerked lightly, and Regina's hand suddenly found her knee beneath the table. She comforted her? Her brow furrowed at the bizarre woman, completely unnerved by Cora's splurge of information. Regina smirked at her and then turned a wry eye to Cora.

"Mother, Emma bears my mark," Regina announced, and Emma held up her wrist for Cora to see the leather burned into the flesh there.

"You've marked a prostitute, Darling," Cora tossed out casually.

"Regina and I aren't having sex," Emma countered, more for her own pride than anything else.

"Oh you foolish trollop, Regina would need a hazmat suit to protect herself from whatever you carry," Cora jabbed viciously.

Regina rolled her eyes. "Mother, do shut up. I sincerely doubt Emma has had many more lovers than I."

"Wait, hold up," Emma begged and held her hand up. Regina's claws dug into her thigh, and she fought the urge to squirm. "This world has an Emma, too?" Regina nodded. "Did she give up her son?"

Cora answered, "I'm only a few years into your adult life, but it is a fascinating read. The son of which you speak so fondly was removed from your home when he was four. Drugs and prostitution does not a stable mother make."

"What?" Emma slipped in her mask, the information knocking her to the ground and stealing her breath.

Regina studied the interaction curiously while Cora leaned forward, sick glee in her eyes. "You beat your son senseless and left him on the stoop of your apartment because he interrupted you with a… client," the elder Mills explained. Satisfaction glowed in her malicious eyes.

Tears blurred her vision, and her fork clattered to the salad plate. "Henry," she whispered, bowing her head in a valiant effort to control her tears.

"That wasn't the boy's name. My people haven't tracked his current location, but the name in the file was Mason Swan," Regina elaborated.

"At least I still met Mason in this world," Emma murmured.

"Is he the father?"

Emma shook her head but offered not further explanation. "Everything is wrong in this world." She covered her eyes and sniffed. The tears came despite her most valiant effort to thwart them. "Excuse me," she tossed out before dismissing herself from the table.

The shiny heels tapped smartly against the hardwood. Astrid met her at the dining room door and followed her new charge. Regina knew her pet to be in good hands, and turned to her mother. Red hot rage flared in her crackling violet eyes. Cora met her burning glare with one of her own. Her daughter always retreated first, so she needn't worry about the tiny show of defiance.

"That was cruel and unnecessary," Regina berated the elder.

"I fail to understand the issue, Sweetheart. This woman is clearly after your money or your power. Can't you see that? I'm doing you a favor. I always want the best for you," Cora soothed the ire as she'd done a thousand times before and touched her daughter's cheek tenderly.

Regina slapped her hand away. "I believe her, Mother." Cora's mouth dropped open, shocked. She hadn't expected that response. "This is not her world," she continued as she stood. "Greg, please see that dinner is brought to my room and Emma's."

"Regina, don't be absurd. You're confused because of your infatuation with this harlot. I see the truth, and I am only trying to help you," Cora protested from her seat, her intention of eating dinner properly obvious.

Regina met her eyes, but for the first time in her life, she hadn't believed the comforting words. "If that were true, you'd have held your tongue as I asked." With that, Regina followed Emma up the stairs.

The rise and fall of voices greeted her outside Emma's door, and she took a steadying breath before entering. Emma had already changed, and lay curled in middle of her bed with Astrid smoothing circles over the bright orange camisole. She froze when her queen entered and bowed her head in fear. A clammy fist squeezed Regina's heart in her chest. Astrid was a sweet girl.

"Astrid, please attend to Emma's dinner. Greg is preparing a tray to be brought to her room," Regina said softly, more a request than an order. The former fairy slid from the bed without comment and scurried from the room, closing the door behind her.

Regina stared at Emma's quivering back for a moment before waving her hand over her body. It tingled against her skin and transformed into silken pajamas. She'd always loved the feel of silk against her body. Emma flinched when she assumed Astrid's perch without resuming the gentle circles on her back.

"Regina, please. I can't. I just can't right now," Emma begged through the strain of tears.

Regina's warm hand touched her hair gingerly, afraid to spook the other woman as she'd done so many times in the past two days. "Do you wish me to leave?"

"Are you going to make me talk?" Emma asked. She hadn't wanted to be alone, but she was finished with this day.

"I'll be silent," Regina assured her broken ward. She waved her hand over the blanket, and it poofed from beneath Emma to settle atop the wounded woman. The bed was spacious, and though Emma lay directly in the center, Regina found enough room to stretch out beside her pet without touching her.

She'd never comforted another human being before, not since she served as Snow White's stepmother. Even then, her heart and mind had been consumed with thoughts of revenge and hatred. Instinct told her to take Emma in her arms and kiss her lightly and tell her that they'd find Mason and help him, but her heart told her that such tenderness made her vulnerable. What if Emma hated being hugged when she was upset? What if she upset the woman even more because she assumed the worst? The obstinate woman made her feel positively human at time, and as she'd done that morning, she lashed out irrationally and retreated within herself. How was she supposed to become spontaneously human when she'd spent decades as a hardened monster with no warmth in her soul?

Regina had no idea, so she lay there, stiff as a board, hands pressed firmly into the mattress as Emma shook and sniffled less than a foot away. The wild blonde woman was her responsibility, her property, and she cared for her the only way she knew how.


	10. Progress

So, I thought I would attempt a lighter scene to move things along. I giggled while writing, and I rarely giggle at my own writing, so I hope everyone enjoys themselves.

Enjoy, my doves, and please excuse my struggle with comedic writing. It's a relatively new concept for me.

Songs: I was all over the place for this chapter, but I think I listened to Highway to Hell by AC/DC the most.

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><p>Regina's eyes flew open immediately, but the rest of her body remained perfectly still. In the dull light of dawn, she barely recognized the features of the room in which she'd fallen asleep. A warm weight pressed into her side. A hand flexed and released on her waist atop the silk pajamas, probably what woke her. She craned her neck to the side to find the tickle against her face to be unruly golden hair and the slight whimper in her ear to be a fearful sound caused by whatever dream currently possessed Emma Swan's mind.<p>

Apparently, sleep called her to its blissful clutches while she lay in Emma's bed. Though it hadn't been her intention, her pet never asked her to leave. The lack of aggression felt like progress to the uncertain woman. At some point, Emma's sleeping body took her presence as permission to wrap itself around her. Escape seemed impossible without waking the already restless woman half atop her.

Regina swallowed repeatedly and pulled deep breaths through her nostrils. Panic swelled and crashed in her chest, knotting her stomach and thrashing her heart furiously. She didn't cuddle. No one held her but Cora because Cora was the only person who had never abandoned her. She'd never ordered her mother to remain at her side, but the woman had never abandoned her. Emma ran at the first chance she had, Regina sensed it, which made each touch excruciating.

"Regina?" A gravelly voice vibrated against her chest, startling the royal from her dreaded musings.

"Yes?" She croaked around the strain of adrenaline on her vocal cords.

"Crap," Emma blurted and jerked suddenly from The Queen. "I think I drooled on you."

Regina shivered, missing the warmth immediately. Dark eyes fluttered with the flood of emotions crashing into her. In two day's time, this impudent stranger who bucked against her every wish wormed her way inside the impossibly high walls she'd constructed around her heart. She wanted her to rip them down. She could have, in that moment. She could have allowed Emma inside.

_Love is weakness._ Her mother's voice rattled inside her brain. "Perhaps you should refrain form molesting people in your sleep," she snapped and swung her feet over the side of the bed as she sat up.

"Regina, I'm sorry," Emma apologized quickly. "I'm a cuddler, so I probably should have warned you. Had a super awkward plane ride one time where I totally wrapped my hand around this guy's…"

"I don't care, Miss Swan," Regina barked, cutting off Emma's early morning babble. "It was inappropriate, and I suggest you thwart such advances in future if you wish to keep your hands," Regina threatened as she stood and glared down at her pet.

"Geez, Regina, I said I'm sorry. What's your problem? I don't control what my body does while I'm asleep," Emma protested, thrown by the whiplash of the morning. Regina hadn't seemed unreceptive to her touch the previous night at dinner or a few moments ago before she'd spoken. Emma had been awake several minutes before alerting Regina to the fact, and only then because The Queen's erratic breathing freaked her out, made her worry that Regina slipped into one of the horrid night terrors that Astrid spoke of.

"Learn," Regina commanded irrationally and stomped towards the door that separated their rooms.

Emma flinched at the echoing slam and stared at the abused door. Her body collapsed back to the bed, and she snuggled into the warm indentation their combined heat created. Despite the abrupt awakening that morning and the extremely early night, her body demanded more sleep and her mind shut down, too exhausted to deal with Regina's hissy fit at the moment. Her heart tugged at her to check on the other woman, but one by one, the lights flipped off in her mind until her eyelids refused to blink one more time. She hadn't asked Regina to stay the previous night, after all.

Let her deal with her own demons for one more morning.

When she awoke again, a horrific screeching kick-started her heart with an overdose of adrenaline. She sprang from the bed with cat-like reflexes and searched instinctively for the intrusion. Light from the sun blinded her through the windows, and she shook her head to clear the spots and morning blur. She really needed a pair of glasses or a contact kit before her contacts fused to her corneas.

Her hands trembled violently in the fists held in front of her body. Two strange men stood in her room, blinking at her mangled chest barely covered with the hideous bright orange camisole and the matching boy shorts that bared her legs to the world. They seemed no threatening enough. Plus, she was safe in The Queen's home. Arms crossed, she glared at the men.

"What the hell are you doing in my room?" She demanded, her voice gravelly and far more commanding than she felt in her unexpected exposure.

"Following Queen's orders, Ma'am," one answered and turned back to the wall where he finished mounting some sort of track for hanging something. Emma covered her ears at the echoing screech that followed.

Following her anger, Emma stomped towards the door that connected her room to Regina's. She barged in without knocking, but the dramatic entrance fell flat when she found the room unoccupied. More screeching down the hall drew her attention, and Emma ripped open Regina's door and charge onto the balcony. A labyrinth of materials cluttered the path between her and The Queen only two doors down.

"Regina!" She whispered harshly and picked her way through the mess. "Why the hell does it sound like there's a lawn mower having an orgasm in my room?"

Regina quirked an eyebrow at the description and then turned back to the room with a hand tucked elegantly beneath her chin. The royal purple silk shirt stretched tightly against her shoulder blades with the movement. Emma threw her hands in the air in frustration. Never before had she met such a hot and cold, kind and then vicious being her entire life. At least her Regina had been consistently mean and then semi-consistently tolerant if not nice.

"You should dress, Dear," Regina tossed over her shoulder casually. "You have time for a shower if you wish to remove your Rocky the Rascally Raccoon Clown costume."

"Regina!" Emma yelled. All of the noised stopped abruptly as people stared at the woman bold enough to raise her voice to The Queen. "Time before what?"

"I told you yesterday that I'd accompany you to the shops to collect anything you may need. I intend to uphold my vocal contract. This project will take a bit longer, so there is time," Regina explained with a wave of her hand, seemingly unperturbed by her pet's outburst. The flurry of work resumed.

Regina turned on the toe of her stiletto and trekked towards her room. She beckoned Emma with one thin finger over her shoulder, and The Savior huffed an irritated sigh but followed. The moment Regina's door closed, she wished that she'd stubbornly remained on the balcony. Magic flashed and crackled, slamming her against the door and sewing her mouth shut with an electric tingle.

"I ought to rip out your vocal cords," Regina threatened coldly. She pursed her lips, scar standing out starkly in the gesture. "I had thought preparing a room for your son's arrival and having a flat screen television hung on your wall an appropriate apology for my unwarranted outburst this morning. Apparently, nothing will satisfy you."

Emma stopped struggling against the magic restraints and nearly fell flat on her face when Regina released her. "Why don't you just say that you're sorry?" She asked cautiously, very aware of the shit storm she could have stirred up.

"I…" Regina stuttered, utterly taken aback by the simple question. "Wouldn't you rather the gifts?"

Emma almost laughed but somehow stuffed it down the moment she realized that Regina was deathly serious. The question presented as a joke to her, but to The Queen, it presented a serious search for knowledge.

"All of that stuff out there is really for Henry?" Emma asked quietly. Tears burned the back of her throat, and she swallowed audibly.

"Save the television. I thought it inappropriate for a child's room," Regina said and fidgeted, hands clasped tightly in front of her.

"That's… Regina, you don't have to do that." Emma suddenly felt burdensome to the already weighted royal. Even in this reality, Regina wanted to spoil their son.

"Fine," Regina bit, covering the hurt dancing in her eyes with anger. "I'll have it returned." She charged towards the door, and Emma inserted herself between the woman and her escape and braced for the inevitable slap or magic removal or death threats or a combination of all three.

"Regina, wait, that's not what I meant," Emma started, and Regina stilled for a moment. "What I meant was that you shouldn't feel obligated to buy me or Henry all this stuff because you lost your temper. I'm not really sure why you lost your temper, but hey, I'm not exactly Ellen Degeneres in the morning, either, so it's no big deal."

Emma scratched the back of her neck. The entire situation felt silly now that she'd dug to the bottom of it. Regina couldn't apologize verbally, so she reverted to something familiar. She threw gifts at her in order to appease her without making any emotional contact, probably a tactic Cora used a thousand and one times.

"Sorry I drooled on you," she blurted into the awkward silence.

Regina cleared her throat and clasped her hands in front of her hips. "I've been stained by much more disgusting viscous substances."

Emma grinned, and Regina almost returned the expression. "Do I really look like a clown raccoon?"

"We must purchase you clothing that does not glow in the dark," Regina decided and flicked her eyes over the ridiculous orange outfit she donned.

"Agreed. Let me go get ready." Her nose wrinkled as she took in exactly how awful the color washed out her already pale skin.

"Please do," Regina taunted playfully. Emma's brow furrowed. This woman's moods cycled faster than a damn blender. She pushed her luck and prayed not to be pureed.

"Regina, can I ask you something?"

"You're a regular Rose Nylund," Regina huffed, clearly in a horrible mood once more.

"You watch The Golden Girls?" Emma blurted, shocked.

"I don't sleep much, and it plays for several hours at night. Is that your question?" Regina asked.

"No. I mean, it was a question, but it wasn't the question I was referring to when I asked if I could ask you a question," Emma babbled. Regina quirked an eyebrow.

"So, what is your question?"

"The Golden Girls, really? I mean, Regina Mills the ultimate badass, watches an 80's sitcom?" Emma wrapped her hands around her hips and studied the confounding woman before her.

"I do. The script is brilliant. The actresses are immensely talented. It makes me laugh," Regina explained, confused by Emma's fixation on her solitary television choice.

"Can I watch it with you?"

"No."

"Why not?" Emma demanded, feeling the quick sand loosen once more beneath the solid ground they'd found.

"Miss Swan, you've asked three questions. Do you intend to reach a thesis in the imminent future or may I continue overseeing the set up of your son's room?" Regina sniped, patience frayed.

"Right. I was wondering if I could use your bathroom since there are strange men in my room," Emma finally reached her point.

"Lock your door," Regina denied her request and reached for the golden handle at Emma's hip.

"Please?" Emma begged.

"No," Regina stood firm. "You have your own facilities for a purpose, Miss Swan." She bumped Emma with the door, and The Savior stepped out of the way.

"Have it your way, your most royal pain in my ass," Emma accepted the challenge and stomped back to her room. A part of her knew Regina behaved in such a manner just to push her buttons. Something about pissing her off got The Queen all hot and bothered, and it drove Emma insane.

She tipped her chin to the two men in her room as she blew through, grabbing her Ipod and dock on her way to the bathroom. She plugged it in, made her music selection, and cranked it up to the maximum volume. She grinned at the devil-may-care guitar rift that started the song and swayed her hips lightly as she undressed and adjusted the water. The bath yesterday had done wonders for her wounds.

She stepped into the shower as the lyrics started and practically counted down the seconds in her head until Regina came barreling into the room. A loud banging barely registered over the voice of Axl Rose.

"Welcome to the jungle!" Emma yelled and lathered her hair with shampoo. The door opened and slammed, splitting her face with an involuntary smile.

"Emma Swan, why is there the sound of a dying llama blasting through my home?" Regina demanded. "How the hell do I work this contraption?"

Emma peaked around the frosted glass. "Don't you dare mess with Axl!" The song changed under Regina's inexperienced fingers, and Emma nearly fell over with laughter.

"Oh, this song describes our entire relationship perfectly. In both worlds," she added for dramatic effect.

Regina huffed and dropped her hands in defeat, too curious about the content of the song to attempt to lower the volume more. Emma grinned in triumph. "We're on a highway to hell!" She yelled and closed the door to resume her shower.

Regina bowed her head and breathed deeply. A sudden urge to giggle bubbled in her chest, and she released it into the porcelain tiles and steam. The frosted shower door opened slowly, and Emma's soaked head reappeared, mascara still running everywhere on her face. A silly smile permanently plastered to her lips, and Regina crossed her arms indignantly, controlling her emotions.

"I knew you'd be interesting," she commented lightly, but Emma read her lips to catch all of the words.

"I try," Emma yelled as the song ended, and her voice echoed off the tiles. "The button on the top with the little minus sign turns it down," she put the royal out of her embarrassed misery.

The song changed, and Emma smiled. "You might actually find some peace in this one. Just give it a listen," she said and disappeared once more.

"Are there ever going to be words?" Regina sniped.

"Patience," Emma yelled through the door. Regina fell silent, and Emma rinsed the conditioner from her hair. She'd never taken long showers. They never allowed it in the homes, and the habit stuck.

By the end of the song, she rinsed soap from her body, happy that the gashes on her chest no longer burned in the warm water as they had the previous day. Regina had disappeared, however. Emma's brow furrowed at the silent departure.

"Carry on my wayward son, didn't actually mean carry on, Regina," she grouched with a smirk. Finally, a sliver of The Queen's personality poked through the ice walls, and Emma liked what she saw. Without the rift of battle for Henry, they connected much more quickly than they had in her world, and it left Emma smiling like a fool. She'd always admired the dark woman.

Towel secured tightly around her dripping body, Emma peeked around the door to find her room blissfully empty. She toweled her hair to a damp state and dressed quickly in a pair of jeans a size too big and a halfway decent white turtleneck sweater. Luckily, the riding boots she'd arrived in had been preserved if everything else she'd owned had been destroyed in Regina's torture trials. Her nose wrinkled at the choice of pea coats but snagged the black one, folded it over her arm and went in search of Regina.

She nearly ran head first into Horace who steadied her with one stiff hand on her shoulder. She nodded gratefully and picked her way through the things still on the balcony, but Regina remained conspicuously absent. She raised an eyebrow at Horace who jerked his head towards the stairs. She offered a wide smile and thanks and bounded down the stairs.

She found Regina and Graham in the foyer, but their heads were bowed in conference, so she hung back until Regina noticed her. She'd changed into a ridiculously flashy dress that spoke of her position and probably pinched in all the wrong places. Emm ignored it as The Queen's shoulders coiled tightly, hands clenched into fists. Whatever news her personal guard brought pissed off the touchy woman.

"Emma," she called suddenly. "Are you prepared to depart? It seems you shall endure the first test of pressure today. Something of a protest rally has formed in the Town Square."

Emma nodded. "Lead the way, fearless leader," she quipped and offered Regina her arm. Graham and Horace fell into step a few feet behind them.

The entire drive passed silently. Regina propped her elbow on the window and chewed her thumbnail, a very familiar gesture that made Emma grin and steal discreet glances. Emma jumped out immediately and bolted around the car to open the door for Regina and led her towards the boisterous crowd being riled by none other than Robin Hood himself. Emma rolled her eyes, suddenly more pissed than she should have been. How the hell had Tink ever thought this guy was Regina's soul mate?

Brazenly, Emma came to a stand still beside the leader of this ridiculous rally. The crowd quieted with fear of what The Evil Queen planned. Emma shocked the hell out of everyone when she spoke instead of her mistress.

"You're all idiots," she started. Robin Hood opened his mouth to speak, but Regina waved a hand and numbed his vocal cords as curious as the crowd about what Emma had to say. Emma nodded gratefully to the sorceress, and Robin stamped his foot childishly.

"The Queen has launched an official investigation into the lack of funds meant to help you. I understand that you're all pissed off and that you're getting desperate, but Regina is trying to get to the bottom of this. You need to be patient and give her time to fully investigate." Emma defended The Queen and promised results, very political.

"And how are we supposed to trust her? She brought us to this place. She's kept us captive and terrorized us her entire life. What allegiance do we owe her?" Ruby spoke up from the back and worked her way through the crowd to the front. She was so angry, and Emma's heart broke for her.

"Who the hell are you to speak to us about patience? The Queen's bitch? Why would you even care when you're being fattened up like a prized hog?" Ruby continued, and Peter grabbed her arm, attempting to shush her.

Regina moved beside her, and Emma held up her hand. "My name is Emma Swan." She bared her wrist. "I bear the mark of The Queen," Emma started but faltered when whispers tore through the crowd. What the had she just told them? She really needed more information about bearing Regina's mark. She cleared her throat.

"I have made it my personal mission to improve the lives of everyone is Storybrooke. Yes, you were brought here against your will, but there are worse places Regina could have brought you."

The crowd nodded. Robin's mouth moved frantically. Emma rolled her eyes again and crossed her arms to remove the temptation of smacking the man. Her sudden anger towards him made absolutely no sense. He'd never done anything to harm Regina.

_Except take advantage of her at her most vulnerable._ A silent voice whispered in the back of her mind, and Emma shook it off. He'd never touched this Regina.

"Since Miss Lucas has elected herself to speak for everyone, please bring your grievances to her," Regina finally spoke. Emma beamed at her mistress. She truly was trying, but Cora made it impossible to find traction. "Make a comprehensive list and bring them to Council Monday morning. Emma will hear them and discuss them with Miss Lucas so that we may find temporary solutions. Now please, go home before I am forced to react with aggression."

"Easy," Emma whispered in her ear. No one had ever mistaken Regina for a patient person.

Ruby crossed her arms, eyes narrowed, lips pursed. Emma silently begged her to take the deal offered them. After a moment, the wolf nodded and turned to the crowd. "Come on, everyone, let's go to Granny's. I can give everyone a free burger and some coffee."

Emma started. There must have been 30 people there. No way could Ruby have afforded to give away that much free food. Apparently, Peter thought so as well if the heated glared at his wife indicated anything. Emma intervened before the couple broke into an argument. Her heart hurt to know that her friend had somehow landed herself in an unhappy if not loveless marriage.

"Put it on The Queen's tab. We'll be by later for pie and hot cocoa," Emma said. The crowd shift and creaked as one unit, whispers spreading immediately at the generous offer.

Regina cleared her throat at her side. "I hope you know what you're doing. Mother will not be happy."

Emma shrugged and pulled Regina away from the crowd before they asked anymore questions. "Take the t.v. back if it's that big a deal."

Robin stamped his foot emphatically, and Regina waved a hand over her shoulder. "You've spoken enough for one day, forest dweller. I'll return your voice once Miss Lucas has collected her list of grievances. Go count your pine cones."


	11. Martyr

*Ridiculous white girl happy dance* So many new followers! Welcome aboard, my pretties. Buckle up and hold on. I'm bound to total this ride sometime!

Okay, last fluffy monster for a while. I'm getting twitchy, and everyone knows what happens when I get twitchy. I usually end up killing or maiming a bunch of characters, and we just haven't reached that point yet.

As always, bless you for the reviews, my friends, and please enjoy!

Song: You Are by Leann Rimes

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><p>"Regina, seriously, I have so much crap that I don't know what to do with it all. It's going to take me hours to put this stuff away. Can we have pie now?" Emma complained. Graham and Horace carried so many bags that they became essentially useless as guards, and she'd already obtained hygiene products, seen the optometrist for a new glasses and contacts prescription, bought underwear and bras and clothes for all occasions and a giant stuffed white tiger for no other reason than to see if Regina caught the joke or not. She hadn't yet.<p>

"If you require anything else, it can be obtained in the future," Regina agreed, trying not to think about her aching feet. She'd not walked that much in heels since, well, never once she'd learned how to teleport.

"Wait, just one more stop," Emma blurted excitedly and grabbed Regina's hand, jerking her into the street. A car horn blared, and Regina shot the driver a death glare. The poor man probably pissed himself, Emma thought with a giggle. She waved apologetically and dragged Regina to the sidewalk with Graham and Horace struggling to keep up.

"Miss Swan, please explain yourself," Regina demanded self-consciously, acutely aware of the many sets of peasant eyes upon her and her pet.

Emma pointed at a quaint little boutique shop with a floral design in the logo. Regina raised an eyebrow and took a breath, which she released huffily in a stream of white haze. Emma grinned at her confusion and pulled her forward once more, far more excited than she should have been. A little bell dinged, and Mrs. Ginger's granddaughter (Ms. Ginger) froze behind the counter. Regina rolled her eyes and stiffened, the little dance she'd perfected with the various shop owners they visited that day.

"Ms. Ginger!" Emma exclaimed. The anxious woman was as neurotic as her grandmother.

"M-m-majesty," she stuttered and dropped her gaze.

"Seriously, is there a shop you've actually visited in the 30 years you've been here?" Emma griped at Regina who shrugged and feigned boredom with another eye roll.

"Ms. Ginger, stop that crap," Emma ordered playfully and squeezed Regina's hand for support. Her exterior screamed confidence and control but her sweaty palm in Emma's told a different story. Regina behaved just as socially awkward in this world as hers when she wasn't barking orders or threatening people.

"We need your help," Emma continued when she reached the counter. "Regina needs a make over to get her out of these over-the-top outfits. Her tits need to breath."

"Emma Swan," Regina warned her with only a tone and her name. Emma rolled her eyes, and Ms. Ginger damn near passed out from the flush that climbed onto her cheeks.

"You have the best clothes in Storybrooke. Think you can hook her up?" Emma pushed forward, trying to set the mousy woman at ease. "I'm thinking that bitchy-looking grey number over there and some pencil skirts. What do you say?"

"Of course, Miss Swan," the tiny redhead jumped into action and strode towards the dress, and pulled some skirts from a rack. "Anything can be altered right here in the shop. I do all of it myself. I'll just need to get your measurements, Your Majesty."

"Emma, this is completely inappropriate. I have a seamstress," Regina protested. Ms. Ginger looked positively crushed.

Emma turned her best puppy dog expression onto the unsuspecting royal. "You can't say no to this face," she practically challenged the older woman and pointed at her pouting lips and huge green eyes. She threw in a couple whines for good measures.

A few patrons in the shop stopped to stare at the interaction, expecting a positively violent reaction from the predictable queen. Regina rolled her eyes. Graham and Horace shifted uncomfortably. Emma held her breath, knowing she either got what she wanted or a slap to the face. A thought occurred to her and she added it to the arsenal.

"Come on, we're supporting local economy. That can only help the whole situation, right?"

Regina's mouth parted slightly, and a pink tongue touched the canine on her left side. She walked right into that one without plausible exit without making herself appear to be the awful human being everyone believed her to be. With a deep breath, she smirked and shook her head. "Fine," came the reluctant consent.

The patrons reacted visibly. Emma saw it; Regina only saw Emma with hazy, trusting eyes. This newcomer held power over The Queen. Everyone heard about the unprecedented resolution of the rally without violence, and now Regina walked the streets as though she were a commoner. Emma ignored them and led her reluctant mistress to the back room with Ms. Ginger in front and the two men in the back.

Emma took on the task of removing Regina's fancy get-up while The Queen fidgeted. She unhooked the line of diagonal clasps stretching from her shoulder on one side to her hip on the other. No way she slithered into this dress without magical assistance. The flap finally opened, and Emma gasped lightly.

Faint scars marred the olive skin across her shoulder blades and then middle of her back. Emma traced them lightly. There must have been at least a hundred different marks, which meant the duration took weeks if not months. Gooseflesh erupted beneath her fingertips, and Regina shivered.

"Regina, what are these?" Emma asked gently, her eyes acutely aware of Ms. Ginger across the room fussing with the clothes she'd selected.

"Not up for discussion," Regina answered and shrugged out of the dress.

"Okay," Emma whispered and helped Regina waggle out of the impossibly tight dress. How the hell had she breathed in that thing?

Graham and Horace turned their backs respectfully, though they'd both pleasured their queen sexually. Even Ms. Ginger refused to look at her charge and handed the clothes to Emma to dress the woman in nothing but a bra and panties. She chose the grey dress first, and Regina milked the sweet attention for everything it was worth. Emma gave it freely and smiled at her as she adjusted the dress on her shoulders and waist. It required minor alterations, and Regina squirmed uncomfortably as she waited for the seamstress to make notes. She couldn't have cared less about Ms. Ginger's attention.

"You have a beautiful hip-to-waist ratio. So feminine," she muttered, forgetting to whom she spoke. Stricken with fear, her eyes widened comically.

Regina cleared her throat anxiously, face twitching with the effort of accepting the compliment. "Thank you," she whispered and met Emma's eyes. The blonde woman smiled encouragingly, torn between amused and saddened by Regina's reaction.

"Finished," Ms. Ginger announced. "Shall we try a skirt next? I believe they will fit you perfectly."

Regina nodded, and Emma stepped forward to help Regina out of the dress as the boutique owner flitted away to grab another article. "The red shirt," Emma instructed and slipped the dress onto the wooden hanger.

Her eyes, however, traced down Regina's surprisingly toned body, evidence of her devotion to her love of riding horses. Perky breasts fell into the black bra perfectly, exquisitely sculpted collarbones, faint lines of muscle peppering her stomach. A perfectly feminine hourglass waist disregarded the hardness of her hipbones unlike her own straight waist more suited to a man.

Regina wasn't just striking in presence, the woman beneath the pomp was fucking gorgeous. Emma swallowed roughly, fighting with her hands to refrain from reaching out to touch that beautiful body. The Queen basked in the obvious attention. She steeled her expression, unwilling to give Emma Swan the satisfaction of seeing her so taken with the attention being slathered upon her. Nothing made Emma barge into the store and demand clothes except for the fact that she liked Regina and wanted her to acclimate into this world. It was unusual, but Emma behaved as though it were commonplace.

Emma, however, had become too enthralled with her exposed body to notice anything. If she wanted, she felt certain Regina allowed her innocent caresses, but this Regina wasn't her Regina. If she desired anything resembling friendship with the difficult woman when she set things right, she realized that she needed to maintain the physical boundaries with this Regina.

With willpower plucked from somewhere deep in the recesses of her reserves, Emma tore her eyes from the expanse of flesh and met dark, hazy eyes that studied her curiously. She expected a smirk or a quirked eyebrow to follow when Emma finally returned the muted gaze upon her face, but nothing happened, not one twitch of facial muscle from the stoic queen. Regina waited for her to say something, she realized. Her insecurity got the better of her despite Emma's obviously appreciative inspection.

"I…" she managed to stutter before Ms. Ginger returned with the requested outfit, destroying the moment before it fully developed. Emma handed off the dress, happy to be saved from explaining exactly how Regina's body made her feel. Apparently, she harbored some intense latent sexual desire for the woman before her.

Showing her expertise with clothing, Ms. Ginger called it right. The black pencil skirt fell just short of Regina's knees, shapely legs on display for all to see. The ruby red shirt contrasted beautifully with Regina's dark hair and tanned skin and of course the black skirt.

"Hold on a minute," Emma instructed and disappeared into the front of the shop. Horace followed and then remained outside when Emma returned with a pair of black tights and designer riding boots in her hands and a maroon scarf slung over her shoulder.

"Those would be positively useless in the saddle. Those buckles are potentially harmful to the horse. I'd never dare put my feet in them," Regina huffed and crossed her arms over the rather comfortable shirt.

Emma rolled her eyes. "These aren't for riding. These are just pretty," she explained and dropped them to the floor. "Do you know how to put these on?" Regina shook her head with a hardened glare, and Emma sense the window for her little experiment closed quickly.

"Okay, here, I'll help you," she exclaimed and dropped to her knees. She ripped open the tights and quickly scrunched one leg. "Hold onto my shoulder and lift your left foot." Regina obeyed begrudgingly. She felt ridiculous and began to wonder if Emma Swan taunted her in front of all these people just for her own amusement. Doubt slithered and wormed into her brain, and her heart thumped savagely against her chest. She'd send her back to the isolation room if it became the case.

"Lift your other foot," Emma broke her dark musings, and Regina once again obeyed. Emma worked the sheer fabric up to Regina's knees and glanced up at the stoic life-sized doll. "Now just pull them up. Watch your fingernails."

Regina obeyed, wiggling into the stretchy fabric that wasn't nearly as uncomfortably as the dress she'd worn into the shop. She slipped into the boots without being told, surprised when they fit her perfectly. Emma must have known her size from the other reality. The scarf felt wonderful around her neck, soft and warm and comforting. Regina almost cracked a smile.

"Perfect," Emma praised the outfit as she circled her queen and studied her creation. "Come on," she whispered in Regina's ear and pushed the woman towards the full length mirror on the other side of the room by Ms. Ginger.

The blonde vibrated in place with excitement as Regina stared at the reflection that looked nothing like her, yet bore her face. Emma was right. Everything about this outfit suited her personality, and looked good.

"You're hot," Emma confided in a stage whisper. Ms. Ginger nodded emphatically in the mirror, and Regina almost grinned.

"I have no coat, and this is too thin to wear in the current temperature," Regina pointed out their one flaw with a hint of disappointment in her tone. Emma smirked.

"Ye of little faith. Horace!" She called, and her guard entered carrying a jacket over his arm. Emma snatched it quickly and slid it over Regina's waiting arms.

The pliable black leather smelled and felt familiar, cutting out some of her anxiety about the outfit. It reached past her knees, buttoned in the middle and v-necked at Regina's beautiful breasts. More for fashion than warmth, Emma was glad she'd picked out an appropriate scarf. Regina stared at her transformation in the mirror with a sense of awe. She'd never really acclimated, fashion wise, to this world. Cora adored the clothing from their world, said it gave them status and power.

This outfit made Regina feel powerful, and sexy, and desired if Emma Swan's lustful gaze in the mirror told her anything. She believed that she'd never grow tired of Emma's attention, at least when she wasn't being positively stubborn. Though, those instances also provided entertainment as much as they riled her anger.

"What do you think? If you don't like it, that's okay. We can totally change it," her pet babbled, clearly seeking her approval. Ms. Ginger held her breath. Graham and Horace tensed for the backlash.

"It's perfect," Regina whispered as she whirled from the mirror.

Grateful, undemanding hands touched her hips, and lips connected softly with Emma's. Before Emma reacted, that impossibly soft mouth disappeared along with the hands and the warmth of Regina's body. Emma stared, slightly dazed by the show of affection, after the woman who now spoke in hushed, excited tones with the shop owner. They organized the order of several similar skirts in both black and grey and shirts of multiple colors.

Satisfied that her order was taken properly, she strode confidently to the front of the store with Emma on her arm and handed the woman her credit card, paying for the clothes she wore and the ones she requested. Ms. Ginger excitedly rang up the huge sale while Graham fought with the ridiculous dress and heels Regina discarded in the back.

With a flush on her cheek, Regina tucked her hand around the proffered arm and braved the world in her new outfit that Emma struggled to believe she wore straight from the store. The Savior meandered towards the diner, allowing Regina a chance to properly enjoy the less restricting clothes. After a quick pit stop at the car to deposit their bags, they continued. Emma nearly lost her shit when she glanced at her mistress to find a faint blush and bashful smile on her lips.

She wanted to believe herself the reason but squashed the ridiculous thought. Regina was recognizing her own womanhood, and she felt good about herself. To usurp that right with her own selfish desires made Emma no better than those people who continuously took advantage of the woman clinging tightly to her arm. The change wasn't unnoticed when they entered Granny's. Jaws dropped as Emma willingly behaved and took Regina's new coat just inside the door and hung it.

Searching for guidance, Regina waited patiently and took Emma's arm after she removed her own coat and hung it beside hers. Regina liked the look of them side by side. Her pet led her to a booth near the back of the diner through the sea of people who had evidently gathered for one of two reasons: they had a complaint or they wanted to catch a glimpse of the mysterious woman The Queen had marked.

Ruby sidled up to their booth hesitantly. Hatred for The Queen burned brightly in her eyes, but she held her tongue on the subject. "You still want pie?" She asked Emma.

"Peach if you've got it and a hot chocolate with whipped cream and cinnamon," Emma confirmed. Ruby's nose scrunched at the odd request but nodded and took a deep breath before glancing in The Queen's direction.

"Apple and coffee," Regina said haughtily, her queen showing in defense against the obvious ire wafting off the young waitress. Emma rolled her eyes. Of course, Regina ordered apple pie. Cheeky bitch.

Ruby stomped off without further comment, and Emma studied Regina's narrowed gaze where the woman had stood. It disturbed Regina far more than anyone knew to be hated so deeply. She chewed her lip and debated on what to say. What the hell? She decided.

"She'd be a lot less hostile if you released Belle French before Monday, which would make my life a helluva lot easier," Emma tossed out casually.

Regina jerked. "Why on earth would that make such a difference?"

Emma shrugged and gazed at the wolf behind the counter pouring Regina's coffee. Graham and Horace watched her like hawks, presumably to prevent her from poisoning Regina's food. Her heart ached for her friend, for Ruby as a woman and for the great loss in her life. Regina clicked her tongue, capturing her attention once more.

"Ruby Lucas is in love with her, and I'm fairly certain Belle loves her back," Emma answered, keeping the promise she made to Ruby about the books. "In my world, they considered themselves soul mates, True Loves, whatever you fairytale folk want to call it these days."

"Is that so?" Regina asked curiously and leaned back as a delightful thought registered on her face. Emma nodded, slightly apprehensive. What had she just done?

"Are you certain they feel the same in this one?"

A crash from the kitchen distracted Emma. "Damn it, Peter! It's not like I have a choice, do I?" Ruby's muffled retort preceded her exit. She carried an empty tray and filled it with their pies and drinks before stalking towards the table.

"I'm sure," Emma whispered and watched the heated approach.

Scalding coffee sloshed onto Ruby's hand, leaving an instant red mark, but the wolf failed to notice in through her rage. If she served anyone but The Queen, her patron may have worn their food. Ruby gritted her teeth and pulled a harsh breath through her nose.

"Granny hopes you enjoy your first visit to her diner and wishes you to return whenever possible," Ruby barely ground out, her reticence to say the words written all over her flushed face turning purple from lack of oxygen.

"You've never been to Granny's!" Emma exclaimed. Regina ignored her.

"Miss Lucas, will you sit a moment?" Regina asked and waved towards Emma's side of the booth. Emma scooted over immediately, but Ruby rooted to her spot.

"I'll stand. Easier to bolt for the exit," she jabbed, and Emma chuckled. Ruby still hadn't lost an ounce of audacity.

"Very well," Regina conceded, completely unperturbed by the response. She sipped her coffee gingerly and hummed. Ruby's hackles raised, yellow flashing in her eyes.

"It is my understanding that you have a vested interest in Belle French," Regina tossed out casually. Ruby damn near melted but remained silent despite her obvious desire to blurt something out. Her mouth closed with a click.

"Miss French's sentence is nearing its end. 28 days, I believe, unless something untoward happens," she reminded Emma of their bargain, raising the stakes of the agreement by revealing it to someone who cared for the imprisoned librarian.

Ruby faltered and slumped into the booth without conscious thought of the action. She looked more like that innocent, naïve young woman of which Emma had grown so fond in her world. Regina's face twitched and tightened, bunching and releasing in the oddest places as she observed the extreme reaction. She cleared her throat and pushed forward.

"I do not wish to return her to The Dark One. Upon her release, I am ordering her to a spare room at the inn. She will be your responsibility." Regina sipped her coffee nonchalantly, emotionlessly, but Emma saw it in her eyes. Just a flicker, but it was there. Guilt.

"I imagine after such a long imprisonment, she shall be quite disoriented. If she wanders one step towards, Rumpelstiltskin or breaks my laws, I'll see that you both never see daylight again," Regina offered the empty threat for her benefit, not wanting the wolf to think she'd gone soft.

Ruby propped her elbows on the table, tray clattering to the floor. Her shoulders shook lightly, and Emma thought for a moment that she'd burst into tears. A muffled giggled told a different story. She dropped her hands suddenly, an almost maniacal glint in her eyes. "You're a cruel bitch. This is a joke, right?"

Regina raised an eyebrow, unflustered. "Do you need it in writing, Dear?" She waved a hand, producing a document, and then reached across the table and snagged the pen from the pocket of Ruby's work shirt. The waitress flinched, flinging her back into the booth with a thump. Regina signed and pushed the paper across the table with the pen on top.

"This is for real?" Ruby asked incredulously, still unbelieving. Regina nodded. Ruby touched the paper gingerly, reading it as quickly as possible.

"Contingent upon Emma Swan's compliance?" Her gaze jerked to the newcomer with wolf-like speed. "You did this?" Emma nodded. "You gave up your freedom willingly to save Belle?"

"And a couple others," Emma said cryptically.

"Thank you," Ruby whispered and flung herself into Emma's arms. It lasted an emotional moment and then Ruby was gone. She ran into the circle of onlookers and showed them the contract signed by The Queen herself in front of all them as witnesses.

Whispers of "Emma Swan" and "The Queen's pet" and "Sacrifice" filtered above the cacophony to their ears. Regina poked at her pie, disheartened. Emma took a moment to enjoy the jubilee, but inch by painful inch, an icy hand slid around her heart. Green eyes returned to Regina's fallen face.

"They'll never love me, Emma, but I just made you their hero. Nothing was ever going to change without a champion for the people, and I'd rather have that person at my side than against me. Use the power responsibly," Regina commented in a roughened, depressed voice, the exact opposite of what she'd been only moments before walking into the diner.

"I will," she promised and reached across the table to touch Regina's hand. They shared a look: a monster and a martyr eating pie at Granny's. It sounded like the beginning of a horrible joke.


	12. Revelations

WHOO! That is all. Oh, and thanks for the reviews and follows. I'm so glad everyone is enjoying this story as much as I am enjoying writing them. It was a much needed reprieve from the series. I think I was getting a little burnt out. :)

As always, I am very happy to hear your thoughts, concerns, and criticisms. And Enjoy!

Song: Human by Christina Perri

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><p>By the time they reached the mansion, Regina's mood had turned sour and putrid like old, rotten milk in a hot parking garage. Emma stayed quiet, not necessarily out of fear, but out of respect for her own wellbeing. This Regina lashed out when her emotions cut too deeply, and though they'd made progress that day, Emma never deluded herself into believing that she'd be spared physical pain if the notion struck The Queen's heart.<p>

Emma gathered an armful of bags and followed Regina up the walkway. Horace and Graham carried everything else without being told. No one said anything. It freaked Emma out. Regina loved barking orders. She'd sniped and griped and bitched and moaned all day when something misaligned a tiny bit with her expectations of the outing. Emma much preferred bitchy Regina to quiet, sulky Regina. She was far too unpredictable.

Emma glanced around the foyer and breathed a sigh of relief when Cora remained hidden somewhere within the house. The last thing either of them needed was that woman's serpentine tongue slithering in their ears. The light feeling lasted exactly one step into the foyer. A servant appeared, looking like she'd rather have mouth surgery without anesthesia than deliver the message she carried on her tongue.

"Majesty," she greeted and dipped in a curtsey.

"What is it, Matilda?" Regina sniped and rubbed her eyes with a thumb and forefinger.

"Your mother wishes to see you in her study," the quivering girl responded. Regina knew she'd be physically harmed if she sent her back to Cora empty-handed.

"Graham, give your things to Matilda and inform my mother that I've developed a migraine and will speak with her before dinner after I've rested," Regina ordered. The man obeyed without hesitation.

Emma's heart ached for the friend she'd lost in her world. He was a good man. She had to get his heart back, but first she had to worm her way inside Regina's. She believed in her ability to help Regina change, but if she slipped up too soon, she lost any and all chance of helping anyone. That alone never touched the fact that she was the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming. Regina probably killed her on the spot if and when she found out. Her position tested the most stoic and hardened of warriors, and she was neither.

She changed into one of her new white tank tops, thrilled to be in something that felt normal. It lasted only a few seconds before she set her mind to the task at hand. With trepidation, she deposited the bags in her room and nodded to Astrid before knocking lightly on the door that separated her room from Regina's. No response came, so she opened the door a crack and peeked in. Silence and darkness greeted her. A lump on the bed in the shape of a body told her Regina's whereabouts, but Emma remained rooted to her spot near the door just in case The Queen decided to throw something at her.

"Regina, is there something I can do for you?" No response. An energy ball hadn't flown at her head, either, so Emma took a tentative step into the room.

"Regina," she whispered and eased the door shut, barely making a sound. Still no answer came from the growth on the bed. Emma took a deep breath and inched forward. With each step, she paused and waited a brief moment before taking the next.

Her hands ached to comfort her friend. Regina from the original timeline never would have shown her such vulnerability, brokenness really. This Regina, however, never had Henry. She never healed, not even a little bit, and Emma understood more and more with each interaction that this Regina yearned for something she expected her to provide. She attempted to fix herself, make herself whole again but hadn't a clue how to start the healing process.

It struck Emma as she eased one knee onto the bed that Regina behaved like a child. She threw temper tantrums and lacked the emotional regulation that she should have developed years ago. She wasn't a psychopath; she was a survivor. Cora fucked her up and then sent her to Rumpelstiltskin to be worked over some more, and with Cora in her life, it'd taken Regina 30 years to finally realize that she needed someone outside of her mother to teach her. She'd chosen Emma, The Savior of her people from another realm.

"Regina, please don't blast me. I'll go away if you want to be alone," Emma started softly. When no retort met the statement, Emma gave her weight to the bed completely with one leg tucked beneath her and stared at the silky black hair peeping from beneath the blanket.

"Regina, I know you probably don't want me to talk right now, but I don't really know what I'm supposed to do here. You told me to come when you were upset, so…" Emma floundered, seeking guidance in her role.

"If you're here only because I ordered you to come when I was upset, please leave," Regina snapped from beneath the blanket. Emma rolled her eyes. The woman was fucking impossible.

"Regina, you're my friend. I'm here because I want to make sure you're okay," Emma countered, praying it worked. She cared for Regina, whether it was this one or the one she'd known for the past three years. It mattered very little, Emma realized. The two behaved exactly the same way, spoke the same, liked the same clothes as she discovered that day.

Regina flipped the cover from her head, glaring lasers through Emma's skull. "I'm not your friend. I am your mistress. The Regina you knew is dead, so you'd better get used to this one."

Emma chewed her lip, head bowed. "I hope that's not true."

Regina hunkered beneath the comforter over her head once more. "Even my doppelganger is more beloved than I."

"Regina, that's not what I meant," Emma sniped and scrubbed her hands over her face. "I meant that I hope we are friends or will be friends or are becoming friends. Whatever stage you want to throw it in. I have no idea what being your pet means. I'm not sure I can be your pet, but I can be your friend."

No response.

"Regina, give me something. What does it mean to bear your mark? Does that make us like sisters or married or…" Emma scrubbed a hand over her face, controlling her anger as best she could. "Damn it, Regina, give me something."

"You bear my mark, Emma. We can never be friends," Regina sniffled under the blanket. Emma's brow furrowed in confusion.

"What the hell does that mean, Regina? Why is it freaking everyone out?" Emma startled when The Queen's head appeared once more, hair frizzed and disheveled.

"It means that you are mine body and soul," Regina started. With a deep breath, she rolled her eyes and turned her head from Emma to gaze at the far wall. "It means that I have…" she swallowed and covered her face with a trembling hand.

"Regina, it can't be that bad," Emma said stupidly. Regina cried harder. Emma panicked; this was certainly not her Regina.

"Hey, look, I'm sorry okay. You can bring it up when you're ready to talk about it. How's that?" Emma lay beside the woman instinctively, taking her weight on one elbow and touched the hand covering Regina's face with her free hand.

Regina turned into her chest, knocking her off of her elbow and into the headboard. She hadn't even noticed through the blur of tears. Clawed hands clutched at Emma's side through her shirt and hot tears soaked onto her chest. Emma clasped her hands around Regina's ribs and rested her cheek on tangled black hair. What else could she have done? The tortured woman hadn't shared what bothered her.

Faster than anticipated, Regina quieted down as though her eyes had gone so long without crying that they had lost the endurance for a nice, long cry. Her fingers released the death grip on Emma's shirt, and her shoulders relaxed into the embrace. This was her life now. She'd chosen it.

"It means I have forfeited my right to marriage," Regina rasped, her voice still thick with tears. "My mark informs all who see it that when you speak, it is as though I myself am speaking. Queens who do not wish to marry may mark an heir in lieu of bearing one," she explained in a deadened tone very unbefitting the information.

Emma digested the information slowly. "That's why you let me take control at the square today. You were testing me?" She asked, genuinely shocked. Regina was a control freak. She never offered it freely to anyone.

"In a sense. I wanted to gauge your sincerity to help the people, which is the reason I have not explained this to you until this point. While I have referred to you as my pet, that mark signifies my oath to behold you as myself. If you betray me, I'll punish you as I'd expect to be punished," Regina explained calmly and readjusted her head on Emma's chest. The position felt comfortable, and that simple fact made Emma squirm and flare anger to cover her own vulnerability.

"Regina, why the hell did you do this?" Emma snapped. Regina barely knew her.

"Because I was tired of being alone, and I was right. The people love you," she answered absently, squeezing her heart against the pain threatening to smash through her walls.

"What exactly does that mean for me, then? What am I supposed to do?" Emma felt like a lost little girl. What the hell was she supposed to do now? If she'd known exactly what Regina sacrificed in the name of her people, she never would have accepted. That was exactly why she'd done what she did. Regina Mills had never allowed anyone to tromp all over her like Emma had, and she knew nothing about her. The only reason left was that Regina gave up her hope of happiness in order to save the people she'd desperately sought the love of, even in her world.

"It means that you are favored by the royal family and shall be treated as such. As for your personal duties, they are determined by the one whose mark you wear. I've been rather lenient. Mother does not approve." Regina stated with a hint of pride. A part of Emma believed that she wanted to piss Cora off.

"Regina," Emma started and craned her neck to meet those dark, puffy eyes rimmed beautifully with the red of tears. The Queen blinked at her but remained silent. "Why did you give this to me? You don't know me. I could have been after your money or power just like your mother said last night. I don't understand."

"You're not," Regina answered with absolute certainty while simultaneously avoiding the question.

"How do you know?" Emma pressed.

"Because I chose you, and I'll break you if I have to," Regina sniped, uncomfortable with the emotionally invasive interrogation. She'd chosen Emma because she felt an instant connection with the insipid commoner. She felt it even in that moment as she allowed the rebellious woman to hold her, comfort her, something usually reserved for her mother alone. She and Emma Swan had either met before or were supposed to meet.

"So, I'm not your run-of-the-mill pet?" Emma changed the subject, sensing Regina's reticence and discomfort.

"You most certainly are not. Most pets, as Mother stated last night, are to be played with, not called upon for advice and decisions. Though you must obey my rules, you are very nearly my equal, Emma, in the eyes of the people," she confessed and raised her head to judge the emotion in sea green eyes.

Emma wiped at smudged mascara and tamed her tussled hair. Regina studied her face and allowed herself to be tidied by the other woman. "And in your eyes?"

Regina dropped her gaze to the chest marred by her own hand. She traced an angry reddish-pink line of a healed wound. "I may never see you as more than a possession, Emma. It's simply how I am built." The answer rang true and honest, but Emma brushed it off quickly.

"It's not how you were built. It's how you were raised, Regina, and if I can settle down and help raise my son and forgive my parents after they gave me up for adoption, then you can learn to see people as people," Emma reasoned, ignoring the shiver of her body caused by Regina's soothing touch upon the ugly violence displayed only days ago.

"You're an orphan?" Regina asked, tipping her eyes upwards to see Emma's face.

"Yeah. I found my parents in the other timeline. I haven't seen them here yet, though," Emma skated around their identity, kicking herself for having brought up the subject at all. Regina hated her family, and she harbored no delusions that she'd have her head if she found out before she trusted Emma implicitly.

"Oh? What are their names? Perhaps Stacy can locate them for you. She's excellent at research," Regina praised her assistant's abilities.

"I'm not sure I want to," Emma lied, the first one she'd told this Regina. "It's complicated. Look, stop changing the subject," Emma berated her lightly. "You don't have to be anything you don't want to be. If you want to be kind, be kind."

"I don't know how to be a kinder ruler," Regina admitted sadly. "People are subjects, things of my kingdom that must be maneuvered like pieces on a chess board. I'm not sure I could ever see them as living, breathing creatures."

"You already do it with Astrid even if you don't realize it," Emma protested, pointing out the flaw in her logic. Regina's brow furrowed in thought, and Emma grinned slightly at the reaction. She'd finally broken through part of Regina's defenses. Communication brought understanding and with understanding came compassion and affection. She'd won Regina over with clothes.

"She's a very tender girl," Regina agreed, considering all of the times she'd protected the mousey former fairy from her mother's wrath. She'd done it the previous day by sending Astrid into town to visit with loved ones.

Regina tipped her chin up and caught Emma's lips for the second time that day. When Emma turned her head away and broke the kiss, rage flared in her chest. She wasn't hurting her or forcing her. What exactly was the blonde savage's reason for resisting?

Emma saw the question burning between the pang of rejection and the fire of anger in those beautifully dark eyes. "I can't, Regina," she offered as a simple explanation.

"You desire me," Regina countered. "I saw it in your eyes today in the shop." A tiny lurch of rejection jerked at her heart, but Regina squashed it with anger before it consumed her. Being rejected by Emma wasn't the same as being rejected by Astrid or any other servant who still had their heart. Emma was chosen, special.

"Want and can't are two different things. I've always desired your body, well, my version of you… aaaand she's never going to let me live that down if you and her are the same person when everything gets put right." Emma closed her eyes tightly, imagining the mocking laughter and scathing barbs already.

But she wasn't there and Regina wasn't here and this Regina needed to understand her reason so that she didn't withdraw and start torturing her again. She pinched the bridge of her nose, warding off her own headache from the circular thoughts in her head. Time-space continuums were confusing as fuck. She opened her eyes to find an inquisitive caramel brown studying her.

"You love her," Regina stated with a quiet conviction.

"I… it's complicated," Emma admitted, thinking of Robin and Regina's ridiculous desperate need for him to be the person to fill the void in her heart. Something had changed between them in Neverland, but then Pan jacked everything up when he cast his idiotic curse. When she finally returned, Robin had already smashed the little tiny chance she thought they had conjured during their voyage to save Henry.

"I won't take advantage of you like everyone else in your life has. I've seen what you can become, Regina, and I believe in that," Emma confessed with an unwavering conviction in her voice. "I believe in that more than I've ever believed in anything."

Regina snorted and lowered her eyes, unnerved by the faith in her ability to become human once more. "I'm uncertain your world could ever be recovered, Emma," she said and raised her eyes slowly, a hint of fear showing there. "But you may have me if you'd like." Regina kissed her again, and Emma let her.

Hands buried in dark locks as Emma responded to the kiss. Teeth nipped her lower lip and blissful heat spread through her body. Regina was right; the hope of returning to her world diminished every day she remained in this one. Warm, wet lips traced her jaw line and dropped to her neck, and Emma tipped her head to the side to allow better access.

"Regina," she whispered.

A warm hand slid up her thigh until fingertips tickled her side beneath her shirt. Nails scraped the sensitive flesh of her belly, and a moan vibrated the back of her throat. Emma grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand free, pushing Regina back with the other on her shoulder. "I can't," she repeated breathlessly with flushed cheeks and a panting chest.

Regina's response was swallowed by Emma's lips upon hers once more. A sheerly covered knee rubbed the inside of her thigh, and Emma's hips jerked in response, legs spreading involuntarily. Regina shivered when a hand larger than her own but smaller and softer than Graham's squeezed her thigh through the barely there fabric of the tights, pulling her closer, tighter against that toned body beneath her.

Emma wrenched free from the kiss and pushed lightly on those tantalizing collarbones she'd stared at barely two hours ago. "I can't," she repeated, and they both waited a long moment to see if Emma changed her mind again. She only stared up at her mistress with a hazy but determined expression.

Regina smirked. "Not yet."

Emma rolled her eyes, happy to see the arrogance and entitlement return to the broken woman in her arms. Regina always bounced back. She just needed a boost in confidence, and Emma's tingling body seemed happy to provide the service. She needed a cold shower and 30 minutes to relieve the pressure, but it was worth it to see that suave narcissist return to her once more.

Any answer she formulated died when the door flew open and banged against the wall. Cora stood just outside, hands on her hips. Graham hung over the side of the railing, and Horace held his arm and shirt in attempt to pull him back over the side before he fell 20 feet and risked breaking something.

"Mother, what is the meaning of this?" Regina demanded and sat up slowly, not one bit embarrassed about their almost compromising position.

"I asked you nicely for conference, and now I am demanding one whether you're fornicating with your trollop or not," Cora explained coolly, unbothered by the commotion of Graham hitting the floor behind her.

"And what gives you the right to demand anything of me? I sent word that I'd come when I felt better," Regina countered, raising the temperature of the room at least ten degrees with the red hot rage wafting from her dark tone and rigid body as she slipped into her new boots and stood.

"What the hell are you wearing?" Cora demanded.

Emma followed Regina to her feet and stood just behind her right shoulder, supporting silently. Regina adjusted her shirt, fixing the tuck that had come undone during her brief self-pity wallow beneath the blanket. Her spine straightened rigidly, and Emma almost cried out in relief. Regina stood up to her mother instead of folding this time.

"I see you've already wormed your way inside my daughter's mind, so I won't fight her on the matter," Cora retreated slightly but not completely. Emma braced for impact. "I would, however, like an explanation as to why I am holding a copy of a death certificate of one Emma Swan, issued three years ago almost to the day you arrived in a magically protected barrier, a certificate issued only 40 miles beyond the Storybrooke line."

"I'm dead?" Emma blurted stupidly, too shocked to say anything else.

"According to your record, which leads us back to my question: how are you both here and legally dead?" Cora demanded.

"I told you. I came through a portal from a different timeline. I screwed something up, and now I'm here," Emma explained for the hundredth time with an eye roll for dramatic effect.

"Time travel is an impossibility. Not even The Dark One has a spell much less the capability," Cora scratched venomously.

"Zelena did," Emma countered. "You know Zelena, the daughter you put in a basket and left to die in the woods? Ringing any bells?" Emma knew she pushed the envelop without any real guarantee that Regina saved her from her angry mother a second time. She stepped in front of Regina anyway, making a statement of not putting Regina between them. This was Emma's fight.

"You vile little toad," Cora muttered and held out her hand. Emma flew across the room, her throat lining up perfectly to the elder witch's hand. Claws sank into her neck.

"Mother, that is enough," Regina ordered, and Emma's heart leapt for joy.

"Not nearly, my darling daughter. I want an explanation of this con woman's presence in our lives. How does she know of the existence of magic?" Cora asked Regina, but her eyes remained locked on Emma's.

"I told you already," Emma choked around the hand cutting off her oxygen supply. It wasn't enough to threaten her life, but it felt uncomfortable as hell.

"I want the truth," Cora elaborated.

"Mother, enough!" Regina yelled and stomped towards them.

"Cora, no!" Emma screamed, but it was too late.

The sorceress' hand sank into her chest only to be met with a burst of magic when she touched the powerful organ beneath. Cora flew into Graham and Horace, and Regina's back hit the edge of the bed as the white ring of magic reached for and blasted all sources of Dark Magic within her reach.

"Regina," Emma breathed and dropped to her knees beside the slightly dazed queen.

Horrified brown eyes stared up at her, and Emma's heart broke. "Please, Regina, I can explain. Please just let me explain," Emma begged.

"I can't use it, at least not at will. I don't know how. I didn't even know I had magic until…" until Cora tried to take her heart the first time. "I can't use it, Regina," she repeated.

Regina only stared, mouth gaping, eyes wide and unblinking. "Regina, say something," Emma whispered.

"You're The Savior."


	13. Confessions

Holy wow! *bows* Thank you all very much for you response to this story. You're awesome, and I will keep you waiting no longer.

Enjoy, my sweets!

Song: I Wish I Could be Lonely Instead by Kelly Clarkson

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><p>"Graham!" Regina yelled, but the man had already sprang to action. He and Horace grabbed Emma's arms and forcefully jerked her onto her feet. Emma grunted at the strain on her shoulders and the pointed fingers no doubt pressing bruises into her arms.<p>

"I'm not going to fight," she said quietly, eyes never leaving Regina's. An anvil of guilt hit her chest when Regina denied her the small act of returning the gaze. Of everything she meant to do, obliterating Regina's trust had never been one of them. This Regina genuinely meant a lot to her, just like the original.

"Of course you won't," Regina scraped as she stood. With a snap of her fingers, the clothes Emma picked out disappeared, replaced with a tight black velvet monstrosity that looked ugly now that Emma knew the reason behind the wardrobe. Regina hid from the world, stitching herself up so tightly that no emotion escaped.

"Regina," Emma whispered, tears cracking her voice. "Please."

"You dare to beg?" Regina laughed. Clawed fingers sunk into Emma's jaw, and her chin quivered against the palm of that soft hand that had traced her chest so tenderly minutes ago. "The abomination of Snow White and Prince Charming dares to beg The Evil Queen for mercy?"

"Not for myself," Emma managed around Regina's hand. The Queen released her with a shove that forced her neck to whiplash. Emma pushed forward, "Not for me. Please, find my son and get him out of whatever hellhole the system put him in and let Belle go. I'm not resisting. I'm doing everything you want," Emma pointed out, hoping Regina honored their agreement.

Regina laughed harshly, and Emma winced at the ugly sound. It was forced, fake, meant to mock and torture, not express joy. "I'll honor the agreement to release Miss French. You've left me no option after our meeting with that despicable wolf today, not without the risk of her leading a mutiny. Your brat can rot in his hellhole," Regina finished coldly as she turned her back.

"Then you will never know a moment of peace," Emma threatened, sounding far more confident than she felt. Her shoulders pulled back, puffing her chest slightly. Regina chuckled, the sound sending tendrils of dread down Emma's spine.

"Why should I care what you do while you're locked in a cage?" Regina asked nonchalantly as she waved her hand and conjured something Emma couldn't see.

"You said it yourself, the people love me. The more you abuse me, the more they'll love me because by now everyone knows that I've sacrificed myself willingly to save Belle French, and if I disappear, they are going to rebel anyway. You can only keep me locked up so long before it's questioned," Emma reasoned. She prayed Regina still cared what her people thought of her. It was the only hope of her escaping this situation alive. Regina whipped around violently, velvet train wrapping her ankles. Violet crackled in her eyes, but Emma held her ground, head high and shoulders squared against the fear squeezing her heart.

Regina latched a bracelet around the wrist without the leather band, and Emma felt a dull burning hum build inside of her. She squirmed uncomfortably for a few seconds until the tingle inside her skin equalized. Regina smirked. "If what you say is true, it's a shame, Savior. There's much power inside of you. Wasted potential," Regina seethed, disgust dripping from every word.

She traced a finger over that same scar, and Emma flinched this time. "I'd love to teach you," she whispered darkly, and Emma shivered to think exactly why Regina wanted to harness her power.

Pushing away the thought, Emma pleaded, "Find my son and bring him here, and you can do any damn thing you want. I won't fight you if you promise to uphold our deal."

Regina raised an eyebrow. The blonde's placid demeanor betrayed the brazen fire of rebellion still burning brightly in her eyes. In a flash, Regina's hand gripped her throat, ugly sneer on her lips, and they disappeared in a swirl of purple smoke. They materialized alone in the isolation room, and Emma's heart dropped into her stomach so fast she swore it gave her internal bleeding.

"Regina, you don't have to do this. I'm not going to betray you. With you is exactly where I want to be," Emma pleaded. She'd rather spend a month in the mines than one more night in this room.

"I don't care what you want," Regina seethed. With a flip of her wrist, Emma flew into the web. As it had before, slivers of magic wrapped around her waist and limbs. Her weight tugged slightly but not enough to wear her down, but the dragon below scared the hell out of her and the silence deafened her.

"Regina, please, save our son!" Emma yelled as Regina turned to leave.

The sorceress paused and glanced over her shoulder before turning slowly to face the petrified Savior once more. "He is not my son," she uttered dangerously. The Savior's giant, forgiving heart broke into a thousand pieces.

"Not in this world, but Henry is everything to you where I'm from. Please," Emma begged breathlessly. Tears dripped from her jawbones shamelessly. She cared nothing for them, only getting through to Regina. "Please, Regina. If you remember this reality when I set things right, you'll never forgive yourself. Please, he's just a child. _Our _child."

Regina clasped her hands loosely in front of her hips, and Emma lost all hope. Her words failed to move The Queen's heart. She bowed her head and cried unabashedly. She'd failed him. She failed him before when she'd given him up, and she failed him now because she couldn't keep her damn mouth shut. A thought struck her suddenly. If this reality reflected the life they might have had, then the decision to give him up was the best possibly option for him. At least he'd been loved, not beaten and left on a stoop, and she hadn't died before breaking the curse.

"Oh, do stop sniveling," Regina commanded. "I'll find and retrieve your spawn."

Her neck protested the force with which she jerked her head up. "Really?" Emma sniffed, a smile spreading on the cheeks shimmering with tears.

"Of course. Mother has been considering taking an apprentice," Regina tossed nonchalantly with a wave of her hand. "The boy shall do perfectly. She's rather skilled at breaking unruly teenagers. I should know," she finished with a tiny shrug as though her childhood hadn't haunted her at night for years.

"No," Emma whispered. Regina joked. She said the most hurtful thing possible.

The Queen grinned wickedly, drinking in every horrified twitch of her pet's glistening face. "Yes, I believe that a perfect fate for the entire Charming clan. Their daughter as my pet, broken and obedient, and their grandson as my mother's whipping boy. It all sounds perfectly… poetic," Regina laughed, genuine glee in her eyes.

"Regina," Emma whispered, too shocked to say anything else. The Queen turned suddenly and walked towards the long hallway of the only exit. "Regina!"

She struggled in vain against the magical restraints. "Regina, don't do this! You're mother will kill him!" She pushed upwards, but her wrists held firm. "Regina, please!"

"Good night, Emma Swan," Regina tossed over her shoulder without looking back, waving one elegant hand over her head in a grand gesture.

"Regina!" Emma screamed, a wet and hollow desperation in her voice. "Regina!" She valiantly flung her body weight one way and then the other.

Mocking laughter answered her pleas, and Emma pulled harder. "Don't do this!"

Something popped in her shoulder, and a squall of pain echoed around her. Maleficent breathed heavily from somewhere below in the darkness. Emma hung her head, panting against the adrenaline and pain in her arm. She wanted to scream more, release the overwhelming emotions in her chest that ranged from anger to grief to relief that Regina now knew the truth of her identity. It had to be revealed eventually. Fucking Cora.

The pain subsided as a torrent of tears swept over her cheeks and fell into Maleficent's black prison. A crackle of fresh magical energy popped the equilibrium of the air, and Emma's head raised slowly, her shoulder screaming protest of the movement. Horace glanced around, confused for a moment.

Emma chuckled darkly and dropped her chin to her chest once more. "My body guard is now my prison guard," Emma muttered, finding far more amusement than she should have at the new development in her situation.

Horace grunted noncommittally and sat in Regina's plushy chair. Emma sniffed and flopped her head against the cushion of magic behind her. He leaned his massive body forward and rested his arms on his knees, linking his fingers loosely. His eyes stared into the darkness of the pit, but no comment fell from his lips.

"Ya know, Horace, I took it all for granted. I took her for granted," Emma babbled without any real reason why. She supposed her homesickness had finally gotten the better of her in this new unexpected situation. Horace made a sound in the back of his throat, his entire upper body moving with the effort, and nodded.

"She going to kill me slowly and painfully, isn't she?" Horace raised one bulky shoulder and let it fall, eyes never leaving that dark abyss below them.

"I could have had everything," Emma continued, uncaring that the guard hadn't responded verbally. "In my world, Regina and I… well, we mostly argued, but we cared about each other." Emma smiled and snorted at the memories washing over her.

"She tried to teach me how to use magic. She-" Emma stopped to laugh quietly. "She put me on this rope bridge and then tore it apart a little at a time. The entire time she kept yelling at me to use my magic. Save the bridge, save yourself," she imitated Regina horribly, but she smiled wider at the memory anyway.

Horace grunted, almost cracking a smile, and nodded again. Emma took the encouragement and continued, "I'd never seen her so freaked out before, at least not for my wellbeing. I mean, I knew she cared, but Regina is a hard ass no matter what timeline I'm in."

Emma closed her eyes, taking her mind to that world that felt like a lifetime ago. "I think I fell in love with her in Neverland," she whispered sadly. "She gave her heart to this fairy she fucked over and told her to crush it if she wanted to get revenge that badly. When the fairy couldn't do it, Regina told her to let her anger go or she'd end up exactly like The Evil Queen, with a dark heart and a hole in it that she'd never fill because the vengeance consumed the spot where love was supposed to go."

A single tear seeped beneath her eyelid and trekked slowly down her cheek. "I knew then how awful everything in Regina's life truly had been and how much strength it took to come back from that like she did."

Horace pulled a deep breath through his nose and finally looked up at her but stayed still. She appreciated his attentiveness, even if it was silent. "We got separated for a year because of another Dark Curse. When I finally made it back to her, she'd already chosen someone else. He's a good man, and he's good to her, but… he tamed her, ya know? He made her less than what she was. I'd have never done that to her. I loved everything about her.

"The way she smelled, and the dark glint she got in her eyes right before she laid into me when I said something stupid that irritated her. I miss her. This Regina…" Emma smiled. "She's so much like her. She's exactly like her, actually, but she never adopted Henry. We never had that huge rift between us that needed to heal. I should have… I don't know.

"I don't want to do anything with this Regina that might make the other one hate me if the two timelines merge somehow. If I can ever set it right. God, I hope I can make this right," she confessed breathily. Tears burned her throat.

"I miss my son and my parents, and I'm not even sure my little brother exists in this world. I miss my home. I might never see it again, and now Regina hates me. She thinks I betrayed her, but I didn't mean to. I just wanted to show her that I was loyal to her before I told her who I was. I mean, I guess it was always going to end this way, but…" Emma shrugged and winced at the pain that tore through her shoulder. Had she dislocated the damn thing?

Regina slammed the looking glass onto her vanity hard enough to shatter it. Emma Swan told lies to her, and now she filled Horace's head with so much swaddle that the man would have been useless had she not controlled his heart. With a huff, she stood and moved quickly from her room to her mother's. Cora had been right about Emma, and she owed her an apology. If Regina were honest with herself, she sought comfort from the woman who had always been at her side without question.

The door opened with her wrist still suspended in the air and prepared to knock. Cora smiled sadly. "I was afraid she'd break your heart," the elder Mills murmured.

"Mother, I'm sorry," Regina whispered with a wet, emotional voice.

"It's already forgotten, my darling," Cora cooed and opened her arms for a hug, which Regina readily accepted. "It's all just a memory now. You'll take her out when she's needed for a public appearance and then put her away. It's much less complicated that way. I'll help you, always, you know that, right?"

Regina nodded into her neck, fighting the tears that wanted so desperately to fall. She'd begun to care for Emma, and the betrayal stung more than she cared to admit. "I was a fool, Mother," she choked out and clamped down on the tears.

"Love is weakness, Regina, and you almost fell into her trap. I know you think me cruel at times, but I only want the best for you. I saw what she was, and I tried to protect you," Cora reeled her in easily. Her poor daughter hadn't a clue which end was up or down at the moment, and she used the disorientation to her advantage.

"I know, Mommy. I'm sorry I didn't listen. I'll do better," Regina swore. Cora nodded, rubbing her cheek against Regina's soft hair. With tender fingers, she scratched nails across Regina's scalp and felt her daughter's body relax against her.

"It's alright, my darling. Mommy's here now. Mommy will always be here."


	14. Superpowers

I'm so glad that everyone is freaked out by Cora. I seriously feel like I need to take a shower from the inside out with acid and a wire brush after writing her character. She leaves me feeling very unsettled and icky.

BadWolfCorp: In my silly brain that has only awoken less than an hour ago, your review has struck an endless "Quit Playing Games with my Heart" marathon. LOL. Thank you for that. J

That said, enjoy, my sweet sweet doves!

Song: I Will Not Bow by Breaking Benjamin and What About Now by Chris Daughtry

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><p>Emma woke slowly. The first sensation that washed over her was pain. Her shoulder throbbed and moaned, begging her to pay attention to what it needed. Slowly, she raised her head from where it hung on her chest, wincing against the stiff muscles of her protesting neck. Everything hurt. The pain in her heart radiated throughout her body and left an ache in every single joint and muscle and nerve ending, burning her alive from the inside out. The possibly dislocated shoulder and the stiff neck felt like pin pricks compared to that excruciating sensation of losing everything again that slammed into her.<p>

"You certainly don't rush," Regina's silky voice called to her in the darkness behind her eyelids.

"What's the point?" Emma croaked, her voice raw and dry from crying and screaming the previous night.

"Appeasing your queen?" Regina suggested lazily and lounged in the large plushy chair.

Emma cracked one eye and then the other. The sight of Regina stung her already throbbing heart, bubbling a tiny welt of venom within her soul. It wasn't directed towards Regina but at herself. Would it had made a difference if she'd told Regina the truth from the start? Probably not, but now she'd never know.

"Are you here to torture me or gloat?" Emma asked and rolled her head from side to side in attempt to loosen her neck. Her shoulder screamed every time she rolled it to the right and away from the throbbing joint.

Regina chuckled. "I haven't decided."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Just get on with it. I'm not going to fight with you. I know I screwed up, but I hope that you'll spare my son if I behave. So go ahead, do your worst," she challenged the smug woman staring up at her. Her capacity for giving a shit about what happened to her had breeched its threshold. She was done, ready to submit. Regina was going to kill her, and if The Queen hadn't completed the task in the appropriate amount of time, she felt certain Cora inherited the privilege with glee.

Regina crossed her legs, black leather of her riding pants creaking with the motion. It must have been morning. Emma's jaws clenched involuntarily as her traitorous mind recalled the feeling of that firm thigh in her hand less than 24 hours prior to their current meeting. Eyes shut tightly, she turned her face from the amorous queen that could have been hers. That was done now, she reminded herself. The only thing that mattered was saving Henry.

"I do rather enjoy the thought of you restrained," Regina tossed backhandedly.

Emma rolled her eyes and wiggled her injured shoulder, scowling at the offended area but allowing it to distract her from reality all the same. "I did say I'd do anything," she acquiesced quietly, hoping Regina maintained the integrity of only bedding fully consenting women.

"Indeed," Regina spat. She'd never met a more talented, disingenuous creature than Emma Swan. She duped everyone, and Regina Mills took pride in her ability to spot and exploit the different emotions one displayed in her presence. Had her mother not been diligent and wary, Emma might have destroyed both of them.

"Regina, I'm sorry," Emma whispered, the "S" sounding much harsher in the echoing stone.

Regina waved her hand and Emma materialized on the ottoman in front of her. The Savior gasped and grabbed her shoulder, the unexpected freedom jostling the injured ball-and-socket joint. Regina raised an eyebrow and leaned forward slightly to poke the area. Emma breathed heavily through the pain but made no other sound. With a click of her tongue, Regina pressed her palm into the throbbing area.

"Be still," Regina ordered.

Emma whimpered but clamped her mouth and eyes shut, waiting for Regina's sadism to get bored. After a moment, the pain intensified, and a scratching, stretching noise - like the sound of latex straining amplified a hundred times- echoed in the cavern. The pain subsided and Regina's hand disappeared after what felt like an eternity but in reality only lasted about ten seconds.

Hesitantly, Emma opened her eyes to stare at the pain-free appendage. She rolled it tentatively with no twinge or bite. Green eyes met a darkened brown, surprised to find them studying her curiously. Regina healing her shoulder was the last thing she'd expected in that moment.

"You can heal in this world," Emma said stupidly, stating the obvious.

"It's difficult to master with Dark Magic as it requires an altruistic motive and my magic originates in rage. I find that when the purpose suits my needs, however, it comes quite easily," Regina explained with a wave of her hand. A drink appeared in the metal goblet she apparently preferred while lounging in the damp cavern.

Emma swallowed roughly and watched Regina sip from the cup, ruby red lips wrapping around the envied rim. She wondered briefly if she still had red lip prints upon her skin from their intimate moment the previous afternoon. Her mind kicked the thought away and sent it skittering across the floor like an aluminum can on black top. Regina raised an eyebrow over the goblet at the visible reaction, though she knew nothing of the content of Emma's thoughts.

"Why?" Emma asked.

The fear she'd anticipated upon seeing Regina again never came. A part of her knew that she'd end up disfavored by The Queen, so she must have prepared for it subconsciously. That, and she knew Regina. Cora mindfucked her at every turn, and Regina rarely gave trust without snatching someone's heart. She knew things had moved too quickly, but this Regina gave her an opportunity to explore the physical relationship the original Regina denied her. Her feelings towards Regina had always been intense, so she gave in too quickly when the opportunity arose to accept comfort… hell, even taking Regina shopping alleviated some of that pent up emotion.

"Why what, Dear?"

"Why did you heal me? Shouldn't you be worried that I have a dagger stashed in my bra and plan to stab you in the jugular when you aren't expecting anything?"

Regina raised an eyebrow as her eyes shamelessly lingered on the area in question. "I sincerely doubt your ability to hide anything in there undetected," she teased and sipped from the cup, leaving her eyes to roam Emma's body as they pleased. Emma shuddered at the attention but resisted the urge to cross her arms.

"We must discuss your behavior during the promised meeting with Miss Lucas tomorrow," Regina started, not bothering to ease into the conversation.

Emma snorted. "Of course, that's why you healed me. You need me to be a good little girl and lap your hand in front of probably the most influential commoner in this godforsaken place," she sniped without thinking to hold her tongue more.

Regina hummed a chuckle and traced the rim of her goblet with a finger. Red polish on her perfectly manicured nail glinted in the crackling spark of her web. "The wolf is rather popular amongst the rabble," she agreed.

"What do you want me to say? Better yet, what _don't_ you want me to say?" Emma asked, smart enough to hear Regina's underlying order.

"She must never know that you are The Savior. That ridiculous claim died when you failed to break the curse in your 28th year, and I wish it to remain so," Regina explained, her eyes never leaving that damn cup. Emma fought the urge to smack it to the floor with the back of her hand.

She shifted uncomfortably and smashed her hands between her thighs to prevent them from subconsciously carrying out the repressed wish of her mind. "Fine. What else?"

"You will remain silent on the subject of your son. I'll not have commoners chasing down your child when I have such glorious plans for him," Regina stated nonchalantly just to watch the hurt and horror on her pet's face.

"He'd be better off dead than in the hands of your mother. Look what she did to you," Emma pointed out coldly. They stared at one another, neither willing to concede first and look away in submission. Her stomach growled, abnormally loud in the silent cavern. Emma glared at the organ, knowing its supplication fell upon deaf ears.

"Are you hungry?" Regina asked suddenly, surprising the hell out of Emma. She seemed sincere, brown eyes relaxing to a light caramel hue.

"Well, considering the last time I ate was at one in the afternoon and consisted of pie and hot chocolate? Yeah, I'm starving," Emma answered honestly, keeping as much bite out of her voice as possible. Where was Regina going with this conversation?

"Very well. I suppose there is no need to deprive you of resources since you're being so cooperative," Regina conceded graciously as she stood. Emma shifted on the ottoman but remained seated, too tired and achy to stand if it wasn't required.

Regina stood near the edge of the ledge and tucked a fist beneath her chin as she thought. Emma's heart dropped into her stomach once more. What she believed an act of compassion had slammed her straight into a brick wall that gave way to a den of striking vipers. She should have kept her damn mouth shut. Regina wiggled her fingers. Shiny, bright red apples appeared at random intervals upon the sticky net of magic.

Regina smiled prettily at her. "If you wish to eat, use your magic," she ordered.

"I can't use my magic, Regina. I already told you this. I can't control it," Emma muttered and dropped her head between her knees to massage the back of her neck with both hands.

The cuff that contained her magic disappeared. The thrum and tingle of energy shifted once more, banging against the inside of her dermis, searching for release. It felt much stronger since she'd grown used to its absence. Huh. She'd never before sensed it, much less felt it inside every inch of her body. Her spine straightened and she stared first at her hands and then tipped her chin to catch Regina's eyes.

"I had hoped the absence of your magic made its presence stronger," Regina explained, fingering the black cuff in her grasp. Her eyes flicked towards the magic web and back to Emma's. "That should keep you occupied most of the day. I'll return this evening to check your progress."

She whirled on the heel of her riding boot and strode towards the dark corridor that led to the door. "Regina, wait," Emma halted her progress at the mouth of the tunnel.

She turned gracefully, hands clasped in front of her hips, waiting. "Are you really going to make Henry Cora's apprentice?"

No response.

"Regina, please don't give me the silent treatment," Emma ground out, trying her damnedest to play nice. Regina only smirked and batted her eyelashes at the frustrated savior.

"Would it stop you if I offered myself in his place? I'll do both. Whatever you want, just don't hurt him," Emma bargained. Regina's brow furrowed in confusion, lips parting in a silent gasp.

"You and Mother cannot tolerate the sight of one another, yet you'd willingly subject yourself to her trials to spare this boy who probably loathes you?" Her voice rose in question, indicating genuine confusion.

"Yes, I'd do anything for him, just like I'd do anything to regain your trust," Emma responded in a gentle tone. Regina's jaw muscle jumped as the grip on her emotions tightened.

"You never obtained my trust," Regina countered haughtily, saving face. Emma saw through the mask.

"Did I ever tell you that I have a super power?" Regina quirked an eyebrow. "It's a little faulty at times but it mostly works, and it always works on you. I can tell when anyone is lying, and Regina I see right through your bullshit."

No response, not even a twitch of those cherry colored lips or a change in the force with which she clasped her hands together.

"I know you don't believe me when I tell you that I never meant to hurt you. I was never going to betray you. I just had to be sure that this-" she waved her hand around the cavern, "- didn't happen."

Regina smirked, retreating further into the persona of The Evil Queen. "Eat your apples, Savior, and be thankful I don't kill the boy on sight."

Regina turned her back once more but stopped and glanced over her shoulder like a movie star. "One more thing. If you get the urge to fling yourself off the cliff, do make noise on the way down. Maleficent prefers her meals fresh and has no taste for road kill." Emma might have laughed at the fact that Regina knew what road kill was, but the suggestion that her pet dragon ate her prisoners obliterated any levity in the situation.

"Maleficent eats people?" Emma squeaked, but Regina had already disappeared. With a rough swallow, she stood and edged towards the chasm. Maleficent couldn't fly, right? And she hadn't snacked on her the other night, Emma reasoned, so she must have been relatively safe in the isolation room.

She stared at the spot where Regina had disappeared and rubbed her shoulder. She felt ten times better now that it wasn't pulsing pain into her chest and back. A massive exhalation deflated her chest as she leaned forward, propping her elbows on her knees. A puff of air through her lips made a helicopter noise while she studied the apples and ignored the skeletons hanging in the nexus of power suspended over the black fissure. Regina, thankfully, positioned the apples as far as possible from whoever those poor souls were.

Emma ignored them and focused on her own survival. Desperate times and all that, she quipped silently, dissociating slightly from her reality. The magic still thrummed against her skin, and she closed her eyes, focusing on the tingle of power. Had it always been present? With a steadying breath, she opened her eyes and reached for an apple. The few times her Regina managed to help her produce magic she'd pissed her off first. Magic originated in emotion.

She thought of her alter-self beating a tiny Henry. The magic tingled in her fingertips. An image of Regina beating her for no reason flickered, and the magic intensified. The pang of rage that she felt when she discovered the truth of her birth parents. They'd just given her up with no proof she survived the trip with a child August as her only guardian. Stupid, fucking, idiotic August who only gave a damn about himself. How fucking selfish had Marco been? They were only children. He should have kept August with him.

Emma narrowed her eyes, focusing the energy on one bright red apple. It jiggled. She pulled harder. "Fucking Gepetto! Fucking Snow White and Prince Charming! Why couldn't you fight your own battles!" She screamed into the empty cavern.

The apple jerked and fell into the abyss. A rumble from beneath shattered her concentration. "Sorry, Maleficent," she called, voice reverberating off the walls.

"This is useless. I can't use magic," Emma conceded in defeat. She jerked cold fingers through her tangled hair and hung her head between her arms.

With a growl of determination, she pushed off her knees and stood. Again, she conjured images and situations of anger. Whale's pretty boy face pulled back into a sneer as his hands slid around Regina's throat on her own stoop after the curse broke. She focused on Regina's fake bravado and how terrified she'd been when the wraith attacked her at the station. The shock when Snow White saved her life and the fear when Emma was pulled into the portal by the wraith.

Emma opened her eyes and searched for another apple in the force field. Confusion filled her mind, killing the concentration she'd built during the second round. She jumped, lashing out at nothing when a soft _plunk_ echoed behind her, followed by several more. Lush, red apples littered the smooth stone of the ledge, summoned by her own magic. Emma squatted and picked up the closest apple, dusting it as she searched her surroundings. She hadn't even been that angry. How had it worked that time and not the last?

Unless Regina hid around the corner or had cloaked herself somehow, no one else occupied the room but Maleficent. She certainly hadn't helped her get a damn apple. Apples, Emma corrected in her mind. She'd retrieved them all. But how? She hadn't been angry.

"I wasn't angry," Emma repeated her thought aloud. "I wasn't angry!" She yelled enthusiastically and stood, cradling the apple in both hands like a precious gem.

With renewed resolve, she focused on an apple on the ground and reached for it. Since her magic had only ever worked around Regina except when Cora attempted to take her heart, she thought of another moment with the dark sorceress. Regina ducking low as she entered Granny's during their welcome back party, hefting a baking dish of her scrumptious lasagna with red pepper flakes.

She willed the apple to float towards her. It lifted from the ground, and Emma smiled as the breath she'd been holding puffed from her chest audibly. She crooked a finger like Matilda calling the chocolates from her principal's house, and the apple dipped and twirled before making a shaky trek through the air towards her.

Something else unlocked her magic, not anger. The apple fell to the ground and busted. Juice squirted across the smooth stone. Emma stared at the threatening fruit, mouth agape. The realization shouldn't have surprised her. Though she harbored much anger towards her childhood and the people who had made decisions which led her to become the person she was, Emma as a general rule tried to let her anger go and cling to the positive things in her life. Unwilling to face her own thoughts, she turned on the heel of her boot and retreated to the big, comfy chair and curled into it.

The apple in her hands felt heavier than it possibly could have been. Her stomach turned with the thought of eating anything, so she laid her head on the chair arm and pulled her body into a ball, the apple nestled at the core of her human cocoon. Stormy green eyes glared at the busted red fruit on the ground without actually seeing it.

Why had her magic worked here when weeks of sessions with Regina proved absolutely futile?

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><p><strong>Huge shout out to pixip53 for helping conceptualize the idea of putting Emma through magical trials. Thank you, "writing wife," for dealing with my obsessive need to constantly talk about what I am writing so patiently. Didn't want to give the chapter away, but I also want to give credit where it is due. Thanks, Hun!<strong>


	15. Torn

Hello, Sweet things! Thank you so much for the reviews, and as many of my old faces know, when a calm chapter happens in the middle of something huge, it usually means shit's about to hit the fan. I'm feeling generous, so here is a double post for you today. :)

With that said, Enjoy, My Doves. As always, I am thankful for and love to see all of the new followers and feedback. Welcome aboard, touch your neighbors, and buckle up!

Song: Clarity (acoustic version) by Zedd (I thought it worked perfectly for both scenes. It was an intense few hours with this one)

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><p>"Regina, Darling," Cora called for the third time over the horrid noise her daughter's pet called music, a hardened edge in her voice. "Why aren't you dressed for dinner?"<p>

Regina finally startled from the staring match she'd entered with her reflection in the mirror at her vanity. Brown eyes traveled over the smooth glass until they made contact with her mother's slightly distorted image. At first, her mother appeared angry, and Regina stifled the shudder threatening to rip through her body. Her gaze dropped to the slightly trembling hand on the marble counter of the vanity as she stopped Emma's Ipod in the middle of the chorus of "Carry on my Wayward Son." A sudden anger tore through her. She was The Queen and should have feared no one.

When she raised her eyes to her mother's once more, Regina gasped to find the woman standing directly behind her. A softness had replaced the ire in Cora's eyes, and Regina smiled sadly as the vision blurred with the sting of her tears. Her chin dropped to her chest in attempt to control the emotions the damnable Emma Swan planted in her heart.

"What are we doing, Mother?" Regina asked quietly.

Soft, warm fingers brushed through Regina's hair, soothing the woman-child. "Whatever do you mean, Dear Heart?"

Regina laughed harshly at the question, finding far more amusement than it should have offered. "Are we so desperate to cling to power that we will destroy the only person who can end this perpetual nightmare? It's been 30 years, and I've yet find a moment of pure happiness. Aren't you tired, Mother?"

The soft hands turned violent. Claws sank into her scalp as she her head jerked back. Regina whimpered but remained otherwise still and quiet. She'd danced this dance before, and struggling only unleashed more pain. Maybe she should have fought more; pain felt better than nothing. Rage eclipsed the kindness in Cora's eyes in an instant, and the loss slapped Regina in the chest with the force of a horse's hoof.

"Queen's do not have such luxuries, Regina," Cora repeated the phrase she'd uttered dozens of times. Her daughter often sulked about the energy required to maintain an eternity of power. Her curse offered all the time in the world, yet she whined constantly about breaking it.

"Then why am I tired, Mother?" Regina whispered in the voice of a wounded child.

"The curse will break when you've found your happiness, Regina. We must only hold on until you uncover exactly what makes you happy," Cora rationalized her theory spitefully, and Regina cowered under the accusation. Her mother had wasted so many years while she pursued a millions things in attempt to make time move forward once more. She owed the woman gratitude and respect.

Cora released her hair with a push and whirled from the mirror. The unnecessary show of violence inspired Regina to her feet as righteous anger burned in her chest. She chased her mother a few steps across the room and yelled at her ear, "I'm tired, Mother!"

Cora lashed out as she'd done a thousand times, and Regina's head snapped to the side under the force of her mother's backhand. She knew exactly how Emma felt the morning she struck her for no purpose, and guilt burned in her stomach. She'd learned the behavior from her mother. Self-hatred swelled, and Regina turned quickly from her mentor in attempt to hide the dangerously boiling emotions within her. Had she less control of her magic, she might have seriously injured someone in that moment.

"You are not tired, Regina. This damn Savior has twisted your thoughts. She planned this," Cora reasoned, her voice softening once more.

Regina's eyes slipped shut, but a solitary tear leaked onto her cheek and tumbled slowly towards her jaw. "I'm not sure she means me harm. She makes me smile," Regina confessed, barely breathing into the words.

"Nonsense, Regina. Can you actually hear yourself? She is destined to destroy The Evil Queen, Darling, and that is you. Are you suicidal? Forget the repulsive Neanderthal and focus on your future," Cora demanded. Her daughter only needed a push in the right direction.

Regina whirled again, arms out to her sides, burning cheek forgotten. "What future, Mother? This is it. I will never marry unless I kill Emma, and if I kill her, I will start a civil war that ensures we never see peace as long as we live in the eternity of this curse," Regina yelled, begging the other woman to see reason with only the pleading shimmer of tears in her eyes. How could she not see their predicament? If Emma broke the curse, she stood a chance of creating the kingdom she'd always wanted.

Cora laughed mockingly. "Oh you poor young fool. Do you honestly believe this woman will make those filthy provincial fools love you?" She laughed again, the sound shredding Regina's soul.

"You can't be the only person in this world capable of it, Mother," Regina said sadly, a sudden stillness overcoming her. Reality faded around her. This wasn't happening, she decided. Her mother encouraged her, instead of mocking.

"Oh Regina, my little queen, you are my only weakness," Cora murmured. Regina's anger melted. It was as close as she ever came to hearing her mother say that she loved her.

Warm hands touched her face, and Regina knew it to be true. She misunderstood her mother's intentions, which wasn't to mock but to shed truth on her reality. Cora tucked a strand of errant hair behind her ear and swiped at her wet cheeks, which only produced more. Regina glanced up at the woman who had never left her side. What if Cora was the only person in the galaxy of realms they'd traveled with the ability to love her?

"I'm tired, Mommy," she repeated for the third time that evening, repenting her anger towards the only one who had never abandoned her. Regina's greatest fear was not the loss of power but the thought of being alone, unloved, unwanted.

The usage of the informal title told Cora she'd pushed Regina far enough. Her obedient, insecure daughter had returned to her once more and ended her little bout of rebellion. Cora smiled sadly and said, "I know, my sweet girl."

Regina's chin quivered as she collapsed into her mother's arms. Cora's gentle fingers brushed through her hair, and the dam of tears Regina fought exploded under the tender affection. The moment a wet sob puffed into Cora's neck, the woman pushed Regina back, holding her at arm's length by her shoulders.

"Enough, Regina. You've shed more than enough tears for this woman," Cora barked harshly. Regina flinched, eyes closing against the torrent of grief weeping from her eyes. Cora was right. She'd cried more since Emma Swan entered her life than in the past year at least.

"I've cried enough," Regina agreed. Cora nodded satisfactorily.

"Now that you've broken through her wretched enchantment, what are you doing to do with the insipid little imp?" Cora asked in a crazed, maniacal tone. She'd used it many times to manipulate her daughter towards violence. Regina became perfectly reckless with only a tiny nudge in a certain direction. The Queen certainly took orders from no one, but Regina, her daughter, relied so very much on the guidance of her experienced hand.

"What should I do, Mother?" Regina asked, tears stuttering to a stop, leaving only wet treks of memories on her cheeks.

"I think you know what needs to be done, my beautiful little queen," Cora cooed and smudged away the salty liquid on her daughter's flushed face.

"Emma Swan must die," Regina stated with conviction.

"Not Emma, Darling. I'm sure she's a perfectly lovely woman, but The Savior in her…" Cora waved a hand, turning her back to hide the smirk tugging at her lips.

"The Savior cannot be allowed to live," Regina finished her mother's thought, taking a step forward as he body fell off balance trying to follow the tender touch of her mother's hands.

"Exactly," Cora encouraged excitedly. She pulled one hand into a fist as she faced her daughter once more. "Squash the rebellion before it rises. She's not had much contact with the public, and the rabble is easily swayed in opinion, especially if you meet the wolf's demands without much of a struggle. They'll be appeased with only a little softness. You'll not lose them, my darling," Cora promised, and though a part of Regina screamed in the back of her mind that she was wrong, the little girl in Regina desperately sought her mother's continued affection and approval.

"Do it tonight," Cora continued. "Do it in private. Don't make her a martyr, make her a villain." Pride laced her voice, and Regina's chest puffed up boldly.

"Go now," Cora whispered.

"What if we're wrong, Mother?" Regina clung to the last sliver of doubt in the back of her mind.

"We're not, Love. She's already filled your head with so many ideas. Honestly, Regina, finding her son and changing your clothes," Cora scoffed. "Imagine the damage she might have done if she had remained longer than a few days."

Regina's brow furrowed. "I allowed her to help me chose clothes, Mother. I wish to acclimate to this realm better," Regina countered. Sure it had been Emma's idea at first, but once she'd felt the contemporary articles upon her skin, she knew that she loved them. Emma hadn't forced her to purchase them. She bought them because they made her feel powerful and beautiful and desirable.

"They were wildly inappropriate for a queen, Regina," Cora chastised harshly.

Regina flinched at the sudden mood shift. Confusion reared its ugly head once more, and her head spun. "I rather liked them," she confessed without dispelling the full truth of the way they'd made her feel, the way Emma made her feel in them.

"You will not be taken by this woman, Regina. You must kill her before the situation escalates," Cora ordered.

"I don't want to kill her," Regina admitted, turning from her mother to avoid the disappointment no doubt on her mother's face. An image of those smoky green eyes tracing her naked body flashed behind her eyes, and Regina closed them, giving herself to the sensation of Emma Swan's desire. She'd wanted her but denied herself what Regina freely offered because of her love for the Regina she knew in another life.

"If you do not kill her, then I cannot remain your vizier, Regina," Cora threatened, pulling out all the stops.

The words stabbed the confused queen in the heart and twisted slowly. Regina caught her mother's deathly serious expression in the mirror. "You'll do as I order you," she countered. She was in charge after all. Her mother may have been favored and spoiled, but she remained under her purview whether she'd forgotten that fact or not.

"Then you'll order your own mother's execution for treason because I will not watch you destroy yourself in attempt to reform The Savior," Cora challenged the brief assertion of power, knowing her daughter folded every single time. She needed her mommy more than she needed anything else in this world.

Regina stared at Cora's reflection for a long moment. Her chest jogged up and down in a pant that belied the acid coursing through her veins. She wanted Emma alive, but she knew that she'd not tolerate life without Cora. With clenched fists, she nodded once and disappeared in a puff of violet smoke.

When she appeared in the isolation room, Emma jumped, nearly tripping over an apple on the stone floor. Decision made, Regina charged at her. She was tired. She was done. And if her mother wanted to rule, she gave her free reign of the kingdom by removing herself from the position. Emma opened her mouth to speak, but only a whoosh of air escaped when Regina's shoulder jabbed into her ribcage in a football tackle over the ledge.

"Regina!" Emma screamed, blonde hair flying above her in the force of the fall. It tickled Regina's face, and she caught the faint scent of strawberry and vanilla shampoo. "Regina, poof us!" She tried again.

Regina only smiled and spread her arms, and genuine fear closed Emma's throat. It wasn't a test or a joke; Regina just committed suicide and took her out in the process. Emma clutched at Regina's riding jacket to prevent them from separating. Hoping against hope, she secured one arm around Regina's back and slipped the other into silky black hair. Regina's eyes flew open, drying instantly in the wind. Emma kept her gaze for a brief moment before smashing their lips together and thinking about the stone ledge at the top of the fissure. Regina felt her body tear apart as her molecules rearranged in the swirling magic vortex of teleportation.

Emma grunted when her back hit something solid with the weight of Regina atop her own. It hurt only a little, as though it had been a couple feet and not several stories. The tang of iron flowed into her mouth where Regina's mouth banged against hers, by far the worst injury sustained. They made it. The elation of actually teleporting lasted only a few seconds.

Angrily, she shoved Regina off of her and jumped to her feet. "What the hell is wrong with you?" She demanded and looked down at the shocked queen.

Her hands trembled violently from the adrenaline slowly leaving her body, and she tucked them beneath her biceps in a tight hug. Regina only stared up at her with one quaking hand pressed to her heaving chest. Her wide brown eyes stared but didn't see. What the hell had Regina felt when they teleported? She turned her back nervously and bowed her head before her heart exploded. She felt as much pity as anger for the crazed queen. What on earth possessed her to fling herself over the damn cliff? Cora, Emma answered silently. What the hell had she done?

"Where does your magic originate?" Regina asked suddenly, seemingly unbothered by the fact that she'd nearly killed both of them only moments ago.

"I don't know. It's not anger, like yours," Emma answered coldly. She'd meant to be kinder, but genuine fear vibrated in her chest. Emma harbored no death wish, and if Regina started taking shots at her life, this entire situation just became impossible to escape.

A hardened body slammed into her from behind, taking them both to the stone floor in an echoing thump. Panic renewed, sousing The Savior with adrenaline-laden superhuman strength. Emma rolled beneath the other woman, but a stiff right hook dazed her silly for a moment.

"Where does it come from!" Regina screamed and loosed another fist upon her face. Emma controlled something just as powerful as her anger. She felt The Savior's energy during the teleport. Emma Swan possessed an insanely powerful magic, perhaps stronger than hers, and it originated somewhere light, somewhere warm. It terrified her.

Emma grabbed Regina's wrists and bucked with all of her strength. The Queen dislodged from her hips, and Emma scrambled to her feet, falling into a defensive stance. Regina rolled with the momentum Emma provided and found her feet, instantly attacking once more. Emma might have been impressed by The Queen's physical prowess if she hadn't launched another unwarranted attack on her. It was different from using her magic.

Regina wanted Emma to hurt her.

She jabbed savagely at The Savior who merely blocked and watched the woman come undone a little more with each failed attack. With a growl of frustration, Regina faked left, and Emma followed in her distraction of assessing Regina's mental state. A solid blow landed against her still healing ribs, and Emma cried out, nearly doubling over with the pain and hyperventilation. Regina sneered with pride and came down upon her face with a leaping punch.

Emma staggered backwards, found her footing, blocked the next punch and loosed one of her own. She'd given Regina a chance to back down, and she hadn't. Emma's patience wasn't exactly at full capacity after a day of listening to Maleficent breathe in the dark hole three feet from her. If she ended it now, maybe she spared Regina from hurting herself more. Her knuckles made contact with Regina's eye socket, and The Queen crumpled to the ground immediately. Without her magic, Emma Swan's strength dominated her tenfold.

Emma braced herself on a sturdy leg, preparing to deliver a fight-stopping kick to Regina's face. The quiet sniffles halted the foot midair. Slowly, her leg lowered to the floor as she watched Regina come undone before her eyes. The Queen pulled one leather-covered leg into her, the other bent behind her, and braced her hands on the smooth cool stone. What the hell had Cora done to her?

"Regina," she said quietly. Her face throbbed and her stomach churned from lack of food and each breath pinched her ribs, yet her heart ached for this broken woman quietly crying at her feet.

"I can't… kill you," Regina stuttered in between gasping sobs. Emma dropped to one knee and touched her shoulder.

"What did she say to you?" She asked, anger lacing her voice.

Regina only shook her head as more tears gushed onto her cheeks. Every time she opened her mouth to speak, her chest heaved upwards violently and more tears gushed out. Regina touched a hand just above her mouth, muffling the ugly sobs. Emma watched for several minutes before her heart dictated her actions, which urged her to hold the broken woman.

Emma rolled her eyes and huffed an irritated sigh. Why, oh why, oh why did she care so fucking much about Regina Mills? With the patience of a saint, she looped Regina's arm around her neck and hefted the queen from the floor with an arm beneath her shoulders and knees, straining her ribs. Regina felt so light and frail, and when she rested her head against Emma's chest, The Savior knew she'd not let her go until Regina felt ready to leave her embrace.

She sat in the giant chair with Regina's legs across her lap. The Queen slipped her arms around Emma's lean waist and tucked into her neck. Surely, some part of her knew exactly whose chest into which she currently unleashed her anguish, but Emma wagered that any warm body would have done at that moment. Regina teetered so close to the edge that her sanity hung by a thin thread tied to her neck like marionette string controlled by Cora.

"Regina, I don't know what happened tonight, but you don't have to do anything you don't want to do," Emma whispered against the crown of her head. Regina wailed harder, soaking her chest and shirt with red hot tears.

Patiently, she brushed her fingers through Regina's hair, remembering that Regina had relaxed almost instantly when she'd done that only two days ago after the awful Council budget meeting. True to habit, Regina melded into Emma's side and the force of her tears eased. Emma tucked the knowledge away for later analysis. In that moment, Regina loved her hair touched and scalp scratched, so Emma repeated the motion until Regina fell silent and still against her chest.

She craned her neck to find Regina's eyes shut and her breathing deep and even. She popped the button on the insanely tight riding jacket. While Regina stirred and readjusted her head on her collarbone, she remained firmly rooted in the land of the blissfully unconscious. Emma released a held breath and smiled at the now peaceful queen. Slightly trembling fingers removed the remnants of tears and tucked a strand of black hair from the face that haunted her dreams; this world terrified Emma far more than Regina would ever know. She kissed Regina's forehead and held her lips there, her own eyes closing in the warmth and comfort of the embrace.

"I think my magic only works when I think about how much I love you."


	16. Hero

Howdy again, My Doves. Thank you so much for the follows and reviews. I'm loving this story and I'm happy that you are, too.

As always, I hope you enjoy and look forward to your thoughts.

Song: Hero by Superchick

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><p>Emma woke to the sting of something wet pressed to her lip. She jerked, fists clenching, and opened her eyes. Astrid froze in a startled fear but relaxed as Emma slowly acclimated to her surroundings. Somehow she'd moved from the big chair in the isolation room to the room Regina gave her. Astrid sense her confusion and pressed a gentle hand into her shoulder until Emma lay flat on her back once more.<p>

"The Queen arrived a few minutes ago and asked me to tend your wounds. I'm not sure how you keep escaping death, Emma, but you must have a guardian angel on your shoulder," the former fairy spurted with wonderment in her eyes and admiration in her voice.

"Where's Regina?" Emma asked when she stopped dabbing at her swollen lip long enough for her to get a word out. She flexed her wrist within the magical containment bracelet. Of course Regina put a leash on her outside the magically protected room she couldn't have escaped with the key.

"Downstairs with her mother," Astrid answered quietly and dabbed at a scrape on Emma's forearm. When had she done that?

Emma nodded. Nothing crashed and no loud voices rose from below, so she assumed Regina and Cora got along that morning or at least made up after whatever happened the previous night. It wasn't the scenario Emma wanted, but she let it go for the moment. The previous night unnerved her almost as much as it upset Regina.

She sighed deeply and stared at the ceiling. "I think I'm in love with Regina, Astrid," she confessed quietly. The words startled both of them.

Astrid recovered first. "You were close in the other timeline?"

"Sort of. Well, we were getting there. She adopted my son, so it took her a while to figure out that I wasn't going to take Henry from her. It took me a while to trust that she wasn't going to put a sleeping curse on me. But once we got over those things, yeah, I think we were close," Emma babbled and shrugged sheepishly.

Astrid offered one of her own and dried Emma's arm of the antiseptic she used to cleanse it. "In the 30 years I've worked here, I'd never seen her smile until you blared that awful music from the bathroom."

"Really?" Her voice dropped incredulously. Regina hadn't smiled in 30 years?

"She's a very angry person," Astrid said with a shrug and haunted eyes. What she hadn't said affected Emma more than what she had. Astrid knew things, but Emma suspected she'd never divulged them to anyone, probably the reason she kept her heart and ventured into town unsupervised.

"Do Cora and Regina fight more since I've been here?" Emma tossed out casually, not wanting to spook the already skittish maid.

A thump and screech from somewhere in the house answered her question. Emma leapt from the bed as adrenaline flooded her system, accidentally knocking Astrid to the floor. She pulled the thin woman to her feet by her shoulders and held her tightly. She hadn't meant to harm her, but Regina needed her.

"Where is Regina?" Fear laced her voice, and Astrid stuttered, surprised by the raw emotion.

"Astrid!" Emma yelled, snapping the woman out of the paralyzed state of trying to be a fish out of water.

"Dining room," she squeaked.

Emma released her and bolted from the room, door banging against the wall in her haste. Luckily, Regina hadn't removed her boots, and the tapping against the hardwood comforted her slightly as she flew down the stairs, jumping the last few and barely staying upright. She sprinted through the foyer and tore into the dining room in time to see Cora deliver a firm backhand to Regina's already bruised face, evidence of their brawl the previous night.

"Get the fuck away from her!" Emma yelled before she thought and sprinted at Cora. Anger blinded her to exactly what she planned to do in order to protect Regina from her abusive mother. She didn't care about herself, only freeing Regina from the sticky bonds of Cora's influence.

"Emma!" Regina screamed, but it was too late.

The punch Emma threw landed solidly on the elder witch's jaw, and the world around them screeched to a stop as she fell backwards against the chair at the head of the table. It toppled over from the force, and Cora landed atop it before rolling onto her back on the hardwood floor. Dazed and fearful brown eyes stared up at her from the woman who had terrorized Regina her entire life. Cora touched a shaking finger to the splotch of red at the corner of her mouth and stared at the crimson liquid that coated the pad.

A swatch of pride sprang up in Emma's chest, right beside the patch of healthy trepidation for the mistake she'd just made. Ignoring the elder Mills' shock, she averted her eyes to Regina's. The Queen covered her mouth with a trembling hand and stared at her mother with parted lips and a heaving chest to match her wide eyes. Emma failed to pin down the emotion Regina exhibited when those dark, glazed eyes slowly raised to meet her shimmering emerald.

Emma's chest jogged up and down in time with Regina's. They both understood that something had changed between them the previous night, but nothing could have prepared them for the visceral experience of The Savior protecting The Evil Queen from physical harm at the hands of her own mother. Cora shifted on the floor, and reality slammed into them.

She stood slowly, and Regina reached out to stabilize her. Cora slapped her hands away indignantly, and her daughter held them up in placation. "Mother, think carefully on your next decision," she cautioned.

"You put that cretin above your own mother," Cora accused venomously. Regina's face tightened, and she sidestepped towards Emma but not quite in front of her. "You are not my daughter."

"Well, that a little harsh, don't ya think? I mean, Regina didn't knock you on your ass," Emma egged the dangerously boiling woman. One more degree sent her spewing down the side of the pot. Emma had reached the end of her patience with the entire situation. Cora deserved to be beaten and left to die in Regina's web of magic with Maleficent blowing fire up her skirt.

"Well, come on, Cora." Emma spread her arms wide as if to say _come at me bro_ and raised her cocked her head to the side. "I kicked your ass before in my timeline, and I'll do it again, you crazy psycho bitch," Emma spat. She just couldn't keep her damn mouth shut.

Regina leapt for Emma at the same moment her mother's hand flew towards the obdurate blonde, covering Emma's body with her own as the world sped up to its normal speed once more. They flew apart in an emergency teleport and arrived back in Emma's room. Regina shoved her away immediately.

"I am not a damsel, Savior. The next time you deign to rescue me, ensure there is an actual threat," Regina reprimanded her pet. Astrid gasped, eyes wide and staring at Emma like… well, The Savior. She immediately covered her mouth, dropped her head, and made herself as small as possible.

Emma grabbed the maid gently by the shoulders. "Astrid, you can't tell anyone. Do you understand?"

"But you're The…"

"I know," Emma snapped. "You can't breathe a word. Do you hear me? Unless you'd like Regina to take you to prison right now, you have to swear you'll say nothing. Do you understand?" Emma implored the kind woman who had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"No, I don't," Astrid answered honestly.

"Astrid, if people find out who I am before I break the curse, there is going to be an uprising against Regina. It will cause a war that no one can escape because no one can leave the boundary. Do you understand?" Emma explained the situation as clearly as possible. Clarity slid over the mousey woman's face, and she nodded.

"I'll be silent. Ruby says that things are starting to get better already." She smiled up at Emma adoringly. "Thank you."

Emma shook her head. "It wasn't me, Astrid. Regina wants to change things. I'm just the instrument she's using, okay." Astrid glanced at The Queen and then lowered her eyes immediately with a weak nod.

"Please, Regina," Emma pleaded quietly.

Regina ground her teeth and stomped towards the door. "You are confined to the mansion, Astrid. Bathe and dress for Council. You have one hour," she called over her shoulder and then disappeared in a swirl of purple.

Astrid leaned against the desk and breathed deeply as she found her bearings. Emma flexed her bruising fist, staring at the red and purple splotches. She'd just decked Cora Mills. The realization settled on her chest like a hippo parking his butt against a tree trunk. The world spun, blackening near the edges. Astrid's soft hands on her shoulders anchored her to reality, and Emma finally met the mousey woman's concerned and slightly frightened eyes.

"Breathe, Emma," she ordered in a quietly forceful voice.

Air filled her lungs, and the black edges of her reality receded. Emma gulped another breath of air, and Astrid nodded encouragingly. The poor woman had no clue what happened downstairs, but she had worked in the Mills household long enough to recognize when to keep her distance. That morning definitely cultivated a run-and-hide atmosphere.

"I punched Cora," Emma whispered. Astrid's light brown eyes widened comically. She practically flew across the room and closed the door lightly, barely causing a noise.

She pushed Emma onto the bed and sat with one leg tucked beneath her, the other dangling just so her toes grazed the floor. "You did what?" She whispered as though the walls recorded her every word.

"I punched Cora. She hit Regina," Emma said as though it explained everything. To her, it had.

"She hits The Queen often," Astrid confided. "I've never heard her complain or speak out against it." Her face dropped with the confession, and she picked at a crease in her dark blue skirt. Emma covered her hand, and Astrid's weary brown eyes raised to her stormy, determined sea green.

"She's hit you a lot, too, hasn't she?" Astrid swallowed and then nodded hesitantly, averting her gaze to their joined hands.

"It stops now, Astrid. As long as I am in this house and not locked up somewhere, I won't let her bully you anymore, just like I won't let her bully Regina anymore. Her psychological reign of horror is going to stop if it's the last thing I do," Emma vowed. She meant every single word, and Astrid's both scared and jubilant eyes told her that the maid believed every word. The previous night snuffed out any tolerance she'd directed towards the heartless bitch.

"Emma, she has magic. You can't stop her," Astrid implored, but Emma held up a hand.

"I've done it before," Emma confided, and Astrid's face lit up.

"Emma, if people knew who were, they would rise up and help you. You could tell them that Regina is trying to make things better. They might spare her," Astrid whispered breathily, cheeks flushing with excitement.

"No, they won't. I lost her once, Astrid, and I'm not going to risk losing her again. Please keep your mouth shut on the subject," Emma ordered. The words were kind, but the tone stopped Astrid cold.

"But Cora will never let Regina be happy. If we fought…"

"Don't, Astrid," she cut the maid off coldly and slid off the bed.

"I'm tired of this world. I want to go home, but if I can't, then I am sure as hell not letting Regina be mindfucked by her mother anymore or get caught in the crossfire of another war. She's been through enough," Emma vowed as she stripped her shirt and moved towards the bathroom. Her tone was calm and determined, as though she'd just decided to change careers or go to college and not take on one of the most powerful women in Storybrooke.

Astrid only stared in awe, to have gumption like that. "Will you please pick me out something suitable to wear to Council? I have no idea what it calls for," Emma admitted sheepishly. The warmth returned to her voice, and her new friend relaxed.

"Sure, Emma." She smiled. Emma returned it and nodded.

Emma showered quickly. She always showered quickly, but that morning she finished in record time. She wanted to be present and presentable the moment Regina walked in the door or poofed. She stepped in it big time by acting out physically towards her mother, and if Cora refrained from strangling her, Regina certainly took up the task. That damn woman needed her mother like everyone else needed fast food. No matter how toxic it became, the addiction to greasy fries and mystery meat endured.

Astrid dressed her in a pair of black slacks and a green button up shirt, similar to the red one Regina wore from Ms. Ginger's boutique. She helped her apply light makeup and braided one side of her hair to keep it from flying into her face while allowing it to fly free in the back. The style satisfied Emma because it was down and unrestrained and Regina because it hadn't blocked her face or appeared disheveled.

The door flew open just as Emma slipped into the ugly ass black pea coat. Regina stood in the threshold and glared at her. "Come," she ordered and stalked across the balcony towards the stairs. Astrid offered a tiny smile of encouragement, and Emma took a shaky breath before obeying the command.

Horace and Graham met them at the bottom of the stairs, both looking like they'd rather be in Maleficent's lair than with The Queen and her pet. Emma offered Regina her arm as escort. Regina stared at the appendage like an anaconda ready to strike, shot a death glare at The Savior, and stomped towards the door without accepting Emma's arm. She smiled apologetically at Horace, followed her huffy mistress, and resigned herself to the silent ride to Town Hall - or whatever they called it in this realm.

She wondered if Regina would still release Belle in 25 days if she died before then.

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><p><strong>Devildoc35, I feel that, even though I had already planned and written this before your last review, I still deserve cookies for being so damn awesome. My favorite is cinnamon oatmeal (no raisins please!).<strong>


	17. Mending Bridges

Thank you, everyone, for the support and ego-stroking. Writers really take to that. ;) SO, I'm going to add a shameless plug. If anyone is interested in reading an original novel of mine, I have one posted at fiction press under the same pen name.

Enjoy, My Doves! As always, squees and criticisms are welcome!

Songs: Driving Me Crazy by Sam Adams and Kiss me Slowly by Parachute

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><p>Ruby and Robin waited in the throne room when they arrived, and Regina raised an eyebrow. They weren't scheduled to meet with her for another hour. The wolf smirked at Regina's obvious discomfort of arriving after her subjects. She managed, however, to maintain a sense of propriety and bowed her head when Regina glared at her.<p>

"Miss Lucas," Regina greeted.

"Majesty," Ruby said respectfully, much to Regina's surprise. Apparently, Ruby put her best foot forward now that she learned of Belle's imminent release. She practically vibrated with the excitement rolling off her lithe body in waves.

"You're early," Regina snapped in irritation.

Ruby's brow furrowed. "I apologize. I will go outside and wait if you'd like, but I had hoped you'd return Robin's voice. If that's agreeable, of course," Ruby added in a rush. She smiled shyly at Emma, and The Savior melted a little. She'd helped restore some of that little girl that always shone so brightly in Ruby's playful brown eyes.

Regina sighed and flipped her wrist. Robin jerked slightly and then opened his mouth to speak. Regina held up an intolerant hand. "Get out. If I wanted to smell forest, I'd go live in it. Exercise your voice to someone who wishes to hear it."

Robin clamped his mouth shut and ambled towards the door, which surprised Emma. Everyone seemed to be on their best behavior today, except her of course. Ruby nodded her thanks, bowed her head, and turned to follow Robin until the designated meeting time. Regina raised an eyebrow and pulled a deep breath through her nose.

"Miss Lucas," she called softly, intentionally keeping her voice low to signify her power. The wolf turned abruptly, eyes wide with a slight fear. "My private chambers are in the opposite direction," she spat, unwilling to show how much the woman's early arrival threw her. Emma smiled. Regina was such a queen.

Emma hung back a few steps until Ruby walked beside her. Astrid was right. She needed help. "I'm glad to see you still wear red to repel the wolves," she murmured. Ruby's eyes jerked sharply towards her, but she hadn't the time to respond before Horace and Graham ushered them into Regina's private office.

Emma pulled out the chair at the head of the large rectangle table for her obdurate queen. Regina nodded her approval and sat. Emma took the seat to her right while Graham and Horace stationed themselves behind Regina and near the door. Ruby sat to Regina's left and studied Emma with a burning curiosity. The hint to Emma's identity seemed nothing more than a nonsensical utterance to everyone else, perhaps a failed quip. Ruby's narrowed gaze told her differently.

"Alright, let's bar the door, lock the shutters, and put a cage around the fireplace so we can get this over with," Emma chirped. Regina rolled her eyes, missing the slight jerk Ruby gave at the reference to her previous life with Granny in the cottage. How had Emma known that?

"Are you quite finished?" Regina snapped.

Emma clamped her mouth shut and nodded. When Regina turned her head towards Ruby, Emma winked at the wolf. If she got through to her friend, Ruby gave nothing away in her facial expressions. Regina cleared her throat, and the waitress immediately diverted her attention fully to The Queen.

"Right," she started anxiously and slid a piece of paper to both women with a handwritten list of issues, keeping one for herself. "Probably the most pressing issue right now is lack of employment opportunities. It was fine until the curse broke, and we began remembering our time in Storybrooke. Almost every single teenager within the barrier has been snapping up any available job, which isn't many. Physically, they are the same age, but everyone is growing up. There's nothing here for them, and no way to create more without bringing in some type of outside income."

Regina pulled out a pair of black-rimmed, square glasses and perched them upon her nose. Emma jerked at the very modern design. Cora certainly hadn't known about those. She smirked and dropped her gaze to the paper without actually seeing it. A sliver of guilt wiggled in her belly, but something inside of her snapped the moment she decked Cora, something primal and need-driven.

"There's nothing that can be done about lack of resources available," Regina dismissed the complaint immediately. Ruby's face fell. Emma intervened easily, finding her role quickly in this meeting.

"That's not necessarily true," she interjected, drawing the sharp attention of both women.

She consciously ignored Regina's geek glasses and focused on Ruby. "In my other timeline, others were able to cross into Storybrooke once that curse partially broke. You and Cora would be able to cross the barrier if you needed to. We could have materials trucked in if we gave the drivers specific directions to get here."

"That…" Ruby smiled and swiped a hand over her face. "That actually solves most of the problems on this list. I won't go over all of them, they are pretty self-explanatory. If we can get the houses fixed, we can get some people off the streets. We just don't have any materials to do the work, and some of the houses aren't safe."

"What do you mean?" Emma asked, her curiosity getting the better of her lust.

Regina closed her eyes and leaned back in the chair, two fingers moving the paper anxiously on the smooth table. "Several years ago, there was a fire that took out nearly an entire block of houses before I was called to extinguish it with magic. Without the curse to reset the day, they have sat in disrepair for all these years, leaving those families without homes."

"Why the hell hasn't something been done?" Emma demanded, real anger flashing in her eyes at Regina's negligence.

"I don't know," she murmured, genuinely surprised and distressed by the news. "The issue has never been brought to my attention before today."

"It should have been," Ruby blurted and then dropped her head quickly.

"Elaborate," Regina commanded haughtily, personally offended by the insinuation that she'd failed to act in such a situation. Emma touched her thigh beneath the table, and Regina sucked a deep breath to steady her nerves and patience.

Ruby glanced between the two and then dropped her eyes to her hands anxiously picking at the corner of the list she'd memorized without meaning to, but she'd thought about nothing else for 48 hours. If she wasn't capable of being trusted with a simple list, how was she to be entrusted with one of The Queen's most prized political prisoners?

"The matter was brought before your court only a few weeks after the fire. We were dismissed by your adviser with the promise of action after she informed you of the situation. As far as I know, none of those families ever heard back," Ruby explained quietly, afraid to raise her eyes to Regina's.

Emma studied her mistress closely. Regina's jaw jumped rapidly and her chest nearly kept the same staccato rhythm. Regina was pissed. She truly had no clue who her mother was. She squeezed her knee lightly, and Regina's eyes flicked to hers, desperately seeking a solution to the problem that should have been settled years ago.

"What if we released the prisoners and used their beds to temporarily house people?" Emma suggested quietly, speaking for Regina's ears only even though Ruby heard every word perfectly.

"It would get them out of the cold at least, and the funds used to feed them could be reallocated for the moment to help feed those families. I'm sure most of the prisoners have families they can go home to," she reasoned, watching The Queen's facial muscles relax slightly.

Regina sucked a deep breath, but her eyes never left Emma's and Ruby's remained glued to that list written in her tidy print. "Graham, send a guard for the warden," Regina barked. Her bodyguard slipped out of the door silently while Ruby and Emma stared at The Queen with reverent eyes.

Finally, she met Ruby's gaze. "I trust you have no issue with the extra work load," she stated pointedly.

Ruby shook her head enthusiastically. "Absolutely not, and I would be open to taking on a few extra hands from the disenfranchised families to help counter the weight. Volunteers, of course. I'm sure they'd be happy to help."

"I think that's a great idea," Emma agreed with a smile. "Actually, if it hasn't changed, there should be room at the convent for a lot of people. The nuns will just have to share rooms for the time being. They might not be happy about that, but they'll get over it. Charity and all that," she said with a shrug.

"Excellent," Regina praised and made a note on the paper in elegant cursive script that Emma had seen a hundred times. She set the pen beside the paper and slipped her hand beneath the table as she addressed Ruby. Emma grinned stupidly when her mistress' smaller, warmer hand covered hers, seeking comfort or reassurance. Above the table, she epitomized confidence and power, but her sweaty palm and slightly trembling fingers told Emma how anxious the entire situation made her.

"I'll have the beds cleaned and sent to the convent today," Regina said, and Emma tuned back into the conversation. "The transition may take a few days, no later than end of week. Are you able to transport the stock of food for the prison to the convent?"

Ruby nodded. "I'll get the forest dweller and his guys to help," she quipped, using her queen's own description from two days ago. Regina's face tightened, and Emma thought she might have actually smiled if she hadn't been trained to hide her emotions so well. It was a good sign.

Regina cleared her throat and averted her gaze to the paper while loosing a death grip upon Emma's hand. "You will, of course, continue to service the political prisoners. They cannot be released with the exception of Miss French who has 26 days left of her sentence, including today," Regina explained. "The warden will give you an exact number, so I expect you to convene with him at some point today in order to obtain the proper information."

"Of course. That's no problem," Ruby reassured her queen eagerly.

"Equipment!" Emma blurted excitedly, and both women jumped at the child-like enthusiasm suddenly filling the room. Claws dug into the side of her hand, followed by the slight tingle of Regina's magic. She'd pulled on it subconsciously with the spike of adrenaline.

Emma grinned cheekily, not one bit embarrassed by the outburst. "If we brought in equipment to cut trees and stuff, we could clear an area and then rip up the stumps and make farm land. There's so much forest here that it wouldn't even dent it. Plus, it would create jobs, building supplies, and food. I'm sure we could persuade Marco and the farmers to help out with the logistics." Emma laughed self-consciously when only blank stares met her from the other two women.

Ruby came to life first. "That's brilliant, Em… uh, Advisor Swan?"

"Oh good god, don't call me that. Emma is fine," Emma brushed away the title with a little laugh. Regina smirked at Emma's unorthodox methods. She was the perfect choice to bridge the gap between her and the commoners. Cora had been wrong; Emma would lead them to victory.

Regina adjusted her glasses and nodded, satisfied with the progress of the very brief meeting. "I do believe that's enough task for one week, Miss Lucas. Please return next Monday to give us time to review your list and make arrangements for the required equipment. I'm charging you with the task of speaking with the proper authorities in order to obtain an inventory of required machinery. You may delegate as you see fit. Please bring a detailed list next week. I'm certain we can help more. It is your responsibility to inform the public of this arrangement. Perhaps the forest dweller can assist you," Regina dismissed her regally while simultaneously returning the insult towards Robin. Ruby took the abruptness in stride with a small grin and incredulous eyes at the very different queen from the terrorizing hard ass she'd expected.

"Absolutely. Thank you, Your Majesty. You have no idea how much this is going to mean to everyone," she gushed.

Emma chuckled. "Well, it's like the time traveler said to the leader of the Eloi. Just because the Morlocks are the dominate race, it doesn't mean they're going to eat the Eloi."

Ruby's brow knitted tightly at the loose and inaccurate literary reference, but she held her tongue in front of Regina. What the hell was Emma trying to say to her? Regina rolled her eyes again and waved a dismissive hand. Ruby stood immediately, bowed her head, and then met Emma's eyes one more time.

Emma pleaded with the wolf to understand her message. It really meant nothing more than Cora's a backstabbing bitch and to acclimate her to the idea of hidden messages during her meetings. Luckily, she'd been correct when she assumed Regina hadn't read much of this world's literature. The searching gaze lingered for a moment before Ruby strode quickly from Regina's inner sanctum.

"Horace, see Miss Lucas out and then make your way to the isolation room. Miss Swan will join you shortly," Regina ordered calmly without glancing up from the list Ruby had given her.

The moment the door clicked shut, Regina's hand left hers, and Emma's heart sank. Regina truly cared nothing for her wellbeing. She knew how much she hated that place and how much Maleficent freaked her out. She had punched Cora's lights out, though. She probably owed Regina gratitude for not frying her on the spot. She thrummed her fingers on the table anxiously, unsure exactly what Regina expected.

"Mother is home resting," Regina said suddenly in that same calm, creepy voice. "I healed her, but you gave her quite a fright and have rendered yourself banished indeterminately from the house."

"Crap," Emma muttered and dropped her head to the table with a thump. "You're probably going to slit my throat later, aren't you?"

"On the contrary, Miss Swan, I rather enjoy her obedience at the moment. She's been rather adamantly opposed to my decisions as of late," Regina tossed out casually, but Emma read between the lines. Regina expressed her gratitude for the temporary reprieve of her mother's constant nagging.

"Emma Swan: Taming tigers since 2011," Emma muttered and then giggled when she thought about the giant stuffed white tiger she bought. If she put red lipstick on it, maybe Regina understood the reference.

"I'm uncertain Mother has ever been struck before," she continued absently, ignoring Emma's inappropriate ejaculation. She refrained from sharing with Emma that she'd been confined to the isolation room for her own protection rather than punishment. The implication blinked obnoxiously, however. The Queen was torn between the two women in her life, and as such kept them both at a distance until the right path emerged in the jungle of emotions.

Emma raised her head and rested her chin on her forearms, studying The Queen's face beneath the sexy nerd glasses. Regina, however, mulled the list before her with unbreakable concentration, making notes and scribbles in the margins. Emma assumed they were suggestions or solutions for the meeting the following week. The lack of anger towards Emma's earlier actions shocked her, but she decided to remain silent on the subject if she'd been granted a free pass. Whatever Cora said to her daughter last night apparently pissed her off more than Emma's lack of emotional regulation.

"Regina?"

"Hmm?" The Queen hummed but did never glanced at her.

"After you went to sleep last night, did you hear me say anything?" Emma asked quietly. Her heart pounded so loud she felt certain Regina heard it. She wasn't ready for Regina to know what she'd said yet, not because she desired to keep her magic a secret. What she'd said surpassed any emotion either of them were readily able to deal with in their current position.

"However would I hear what you babble after I cried myself into a stupor like an infantile fool?" Regina snipped, much more irritated with herself than Emma. "Did you utter something idiotic?" She clicked her tongue, and her eyebrows jumped once. "Of course you did," she concluded and continued her in-depth analysis of Ruby's list.

Emma hid her face in her arms and released a shaky breath. The last thing she wanted to deal with in that moment was her apparently no-longer-latent feelings of love for the woman who had made her life miserable for the past three years. That hadn't even touched all the shit Regina put her through in the near week she'd been in this timeline. Had it really been less than a week? It felt like a lifetime.

The scraping of Regina's chair on marble pulled her head up once more. Regina moved faster than she expected, and a hand grabbed the back of her coat, directing her to her feet. Emma's body followed even as her mind screamed for an explanation of the manhandling. Regina kicked the chair out of her path, and it clattered to the floor a few feet from them. The backs of her thighs hit the edge of the table, and Regina's toned body slid against her front.

"Does this mean I'm forgiven?" Emma asked playfully. Somehow, what she'd done endeared her more to Regina, and the irony of that was not lost on either woman.

"Do shut up, Miss Swan," Regina snapped and jerked Emma forward with clawed fists on the collar of her coat. Regina fitted her lips over Emma's top lip, dominating the kiss in every aspect. Emma wanted to tell her to stop, but it just felt too fucking good. Every day she doubted the possibility of ever returning home, and Regina felt fucking good pressed against her.

Warm fingers slid over her collarbones, and the coat fell from her shoulders, buttons clacking against the table as her hands pulled free. Her hands found Regina's hips beneath the tight fabric of her dark blue dress. Regina snapped her fingers, and the formal outfit tingled for a moment before disappearing, replaced with a white tank top, dark blue jeans, and Emma's brown riding boots.

"Better," Regina murmured as her eyes shamelessly roamed Emma's chest. Emma's stomach tightened, and she doubted her ability to maintain a physical distance from this Regina much longer. She wanted to give in more every time Regina touched her.

"Regina, would you tell me what happened last night if I asked?" Emma diverted The Queen's attention to something other than her cleavage.

"I bruised your shoulder," Regina said as though she hadn't heard the question. When tender red lips pressed to the sore muscle, Emma's eyelids fluttered and closed as a silent, controlled sigh seeped between her parted lips.

They opened again when Regina's mouth disappeared from her body. The Queen studied her reaction to the affection curiously. Emma brushed a stray tress of black hair from her face, and Regina's head ducked slightly. Emma grinned at the bashful reaction. Regina truly had no idea how deeply she affected The Savior on every level.

"Regina," she whispered without any real reason why. It felt right, like her name was meant to be spoken in that moment. Their was no queen and savior, no broken sobs dividing them, no lustful domination caused by Regina's inability to participate in intimacy. She was just Regina.

A tiny, surprised noise ripped from the back of her throat when Regina's lips claimed hers again. She spread her legs wider, taking Regina into her completely and nearly fell over from the sheer shock of the sensation of their combined heat. Firm hands slid over her sides and back, and Emma hummed into the adrenaline tearing through her body. Strong hands pressed Regina's hips into hers tightly, and a throaty moan vibrated their locked lips.

Regina broke the kiss suddenly, sheer terror in her eyes. "You are the most vulgar, infuriating, maladroit, brutish creature I've ever encountered."

Emma smirked devilishly. "All part of-" Regina flicked her wrist behind Emma's back, and The Savior disappeared in a puff of violet haze.

" -my charm," Emma finished dully as she materialized in the isolation room with her legs dangling over the lip of the chasm. She scrambled back from the edge like a crab, and Horace snorted in amusement at Emma's irritation and settled into the comfy chair. He planned to keep his seat for a good, long while.

"Go ahead and laugh," Emma told him and flopped back against the cold stone with her arms propped behind her head. "This is all part of my master plan," Emma continued, somehow finding levity in the situation. How could she not while her lips still tingled from Regina's unexplained and unexpected kisses? She grinned stupidly and pulled her lower lip into her mouth, tasting the tartness of Regina's lipstick.

Something had changed between them, and Emma felt powerless to stop it. She didn't want to stop it. Maybe in this reality, she and Regina found the happiness with each other that they'd denied themselves for years in the original timeline.

"All part of the plan," she repeated in a breathy, lovesick murmur.


	18. Looking Glass

Wow, so either you really hate Ruby Lucas or you really hate SQ fluff. Shame, I have so much of both planned. My gift horse has been spurned! *dramatic sigh* Don't get lazy on me, and have some twisted angsty horror instead. Mwahaha.

Thanks everyone for the follows and reviews! So many new faces I've never seen before. It makes me a giddy little girl inside. Enjoy!

Song: Off with Her Head by Icon for Hire

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><p>"Do you ever speak?" Horace shrugged one shoulder but remained silent. Emma laughed and resumed staring at the stone ceiling. Emma lost track of how long she'd studied the different designs on the stone roof of the cavern and daydreamed about Regina. Her stomach growled again, and Emma puffed air through her lips like a horse, distracting herself.<p>

"I can see why Regina likes having you around," Emma said for lack of anything else to say. Horace offered very little in the way of conversation. Her stomach grumbled again, and Emma winced, rubbing a hand over the protesting organ.

A surprised squeak echoed in the cavern when something bounced off the side of Emma's head with a rattle of foil. Emma glared at protein bar on the stone and then at a smirking Horace. She snatched up the snack and tore into the wrapper with fervor. "Stomp your feet next time," she grouched around a mouth full of chocolate and peanuts.

Horace chomped into his own snack with a cheeky grin on his lips. Emma chuckled. He was an odd man, but he seemed kind enough, and he liked her. "Astrid is overly chatty, and you're completely silent," Emma managed around another mouthful. It could have tasted like dirt for all she knew.

Horace's gaze dropped to the floor mid-bite, and he lowered the protein bar as blush flushed his neck and cheeks. Emma coughed, choking on the obnoxious amount of peanuts and nougat. "Oh my god! You like her!"

Horace shrugged and nodded bashfully, and Emma swore she felt the heat from his bright red face. His head jerked suddenly, fear in his eyes. Emma laughed one echoing bark into the cavern. "Don't worry, I won't tell her. I'm kind of harboring my own secret feelings at the moment. So, I know where you are, Buddy," Emma assured him with a much lighter tone than the words actually called for. If she gave into Regina, that meant she'd lost all hope of ever returning to her world.

A buzzing sound echoed in the cavern, and Horace's brow furrowed. Emma laughed unabashedly when he pulled out a flip phone and read the text message before sending one with his huge beefy fingers that seemed far too large to type on such a small keyboard. Emma's laughter petered to giggles and then the occasional chuckle as her guard painfully returned the text. Poor guy.

After a minute or two, he stood and cross to her with the phone extended. Emma stared at the screen for a long moment and then grabbed the phone, cradling it in her hands like a precious gem. A smile spread slowly on her cheeks, and Horace reached out for the phone. Emma used his arm to pull herself to her feet instead and flung her arms around his thick neck. She wished she'd fallen into Regina's arms, but she needed to hug someone and he was there.

"They found Henry, Horace," she whispered reverently, unsure if the man even heard her. True to his nature, her guard said nothing, but after a moment, hands as long as her back was wide pressed into her waist and shoulder blades far more tenderly than she expected. She squeezed his neck tighter, grateful for the affection, and then pulled back to read the text one more time and wipe tears from her cheeks.

"I can't believe she found him," she whispered, reading the text for the third time.

Regina leaned back in her plushy office chair and crossed her legs. A thumbnail slipped between her teeth as she studied Emma's face through the tiny round compact mirror sitting atop Mason Swan's file beside a picture of an angry teenager with brown hair and Emma's eyes. His mother's genuine joy infected her, and an involuntary smile touched her cheeks.

Regina traced a finger across the image of Emma's face, wiping her tears from afar. The simple intimate act shot tendrils of panic into her heart, and she jerked her hand from the burn the innocent mirror lit in her fingertips. Regina sucked a deep breath, calming her racing heart. She'd not even touched the woman, yet she felt as exposed and vulnerable as if she'd been there to share Emma's happy news.

In a huff of anger, she snapped the compact shut with a click and shoved it into the pocket of her dress. "What the hell have you done to me?" She cursed the blonde savior as she swiped the file from the table and disappeared from her official chambers in a swirl of smoke.

Rumpelstiltskin barely flinched when she arrived at the counter of his shop in a swirl of smoke. He raised an eyebrow in question, and they stared at each other for a heated moment. Regina acted before she thought too hard about what exactly she planned to do.

Tossing the file on the glass counter top, she stated her bargain, "I want you to procure that boy for me. In return, I will release Belle French in 25 days. You'll not be allowed to speak with her, of course, but she'll be free."

Regina waited a moment to see if the news of Belle's release had already reached Gold's shop. Not many ventured near him now that they remembered his true identity, but he controlled almost as many ears for pay as she. His face softened, and he touched the file gingerly.

"What makes you think I'd do anything for you? Her release does not ensure her safety," he reasoned. He was a business man after all.

"She will not be homeless if that is what you are insinuating. I've already arranged living quarters and the protection of one of the village leaders," Regina explained calmly, studying her fingernails for lack of anything else to steady her nerves. Her corset pinched her ribs, and her breasts screamed for release, worsened by the erratic pounding of her heart at seeing her magic mentor again after so many years.

"Ah, yes," Rumpel said quietly, exerting his control. "I'm told that my Belle has taken quite a fancy to the wolf."

"The wolf is married," The Queen dismissed the concern with an elegant wave. "Perhaps not legally in this world, but she made a vow in The Enchanted Forest. She's far too noble to stray." Regina actually believed that to be the truth. She'd spent years watching Ruby. She was honest and noble and hardworking, and no matter how many times she and her husband argued, she always gave it another try despite his inability to make her happy.

He chuckled, the sound narrowing her eyes in irritation. "You always preferred psychological torture," he murmured fondly. His voice filled with nostalgia, and her heart hardened.

"And you built your reputation on the rape and lashings of a foolish, naïve queen," she spat accusingly, forgetting for just a moment that he hadn't care then and that certainly hadn't changed more than 30 years later. "Will you bring the boy here or not?"

He leaned towards her over the counter and whispered, "I don't want Belle." He pushed the file towards her, and she slapped a hand on it in frustration.

"What do you want?"

"I want a child. Your child," he elaborated and reached out to touch her cheek. She lashed out with magic, pulling it easily to the surface towards the man who had created the monster he no longer controlled. His back hit the shelves hanging on the walls behind the counter, sending trinkets and keepsakes clattering to the floor. Some shattered and others bounced, and Regina pulled her lip into a sneer to see him so weak and vulnerable.

"Even if I was capable of bearing children, I'd never bring your influence upon another human being, much less my own flesh and blood. Will you bring this child here or not?" Her control slipped a little at a time, and had she possessed his dagger at that moment, she'd have plunged it into his chest where his heart should have been. Her mother had ripped that out long ago.

"Our child would be the most unstoppable force ever seen in the world, Regina," he managed despite the anvil of magic pressing upon his chest..

"Have you lost your mind? I cannot bear children. It is a physical impossibility. Everyone knows this. The king made certain of that," Regina bit. She loathed any reminder of her failure as a woman. A child might have made her happy. She'd longed for one for years at the king's side, but it was not to be.

"Have you ever asked yourself why that might be?" He taunted her and enjoyed every second. With a nod of her head, his throat was in her hand. The counter rocked with the force in which he hit it.

"Speak plainly, Imp. Have you done something to me?" She demanded. Her claws pressed deep crescents into his neck, and she wondered if he was able to withstand having his throat ripped out. Would he heal or simple walk about without vocal cords and a trachea?

He grinned wickedly. He was a handsome man. It covered his soulless heart quite well. "I'll obtain the boy for you in exchange for Belle's freedom. Now get out of my shop."

"What did you do, you bastard?" Regina demanded, shoving him backwards into the shelves once more but releasing him from the magical bonds now that he'd agreed to her deal.

"Have a wonderful day, Your Majesty," he bade prettily and snapped his fingers. She flew apart in teleport, not having expected his sudden use of magic to banish her from the shop.

She screeched and flung her hands over her desk in her chambers. Pens and paperclips and a lamp crashed to the floor. Graham barged into the room sword drawn. Regina flicked her wrist and the door slammed behind him, lock tumbling into place.

"Come here," she commanded coldly.

He understood immediately and set his sword on the table as he crossed the room. His belt and scabbard clattered against the floor, and she pulled the skirt of her dress to her hips and leaned back on her desk. He'd pumped himself hard by the time he reached her and guided his still-hardening shaft into his queen. Fingers dug into her hips as he immediately pounded at her violently. He always had. Nothing about their liaisons had ever been gentle.

Toned calves wrapped around his thighs, pulling him closer, deeper. A thick, callused hand slid around her throat as it often had. Their hips collided aggressively as they always had. Graham grunted, enjoying the temporary abuse she allowed him to lay upon her body in the name of pleasure. It felt wrong. She felt wrong. They felt wrong. A flash of her former mentor's hand upon her cheek replaced Graham's obedient fingers.

"Stop," she whispered. He slammed into her again, missing her breathy plea.

"Stop!" She screamed, lashing out with her magic. His back and head hit the wall with an audible thud, and he faltered, barely catching himself before he fell over.

They stared at each other with equally wide eyes and heaving chests. Graham tucked himself away slowly, and Regina flinched and turned her head from him at the seemingly loud rip of the zipper covering the bulge of his erection. He fell to his knees, supplicating himself to his mistress.

"Have I displeased you?" He asked, sounding like a frightened little boy instead of the strong man who had protected and pleased her for so many years.

Regina clenched her fists, pressing them into the sides of her thighs to hide the tremble of fear coursing through her veins. "Call, Horace," she rasped quietly. "Tell him to bring lunch to Emma. I won't be keeping my plans to dine with her this afternoon."

"Is there anything else I can do, My Queen?" He asked softly, kindly. It wasn't real, Regina reminded herself. He cared because she'd ordered him to care.

"Get out," she replied, unable to move from her place on the desk. He nodded silently and stood. He gathered his belt and sword and slipped from the room with only the muted thump of his boots and the tumble of locks as his only farewell.

With unsteady hands, she pulled the compact from her pocket and opened it. Emma smiled brightly from the smooth surface, still celebrating with Horace who held a phone to his ear and fended off her attempts at roughhousing. Two shaking fingers touched Emma's wild hair that had already pulled free from Astrid's careful plait. A smile touched her lips and died slowly.

With another wild screech, she slid from the desk and flung the compact at the wall of her office. It shattered into a hundred pieces, and Regina sneered at the destruction with a clenched fist. "What the hell have you done to me?"


	19. If Only

To answer a question posted in the reviews that others may be wondering, I have posted about 1/3 of the story. It's probably going to be a bit longer than the fics from the series because I don't plan to do a sequel and there are far too many elements and intricacies to rush. So, settle in, My Lovelies!

And for anyone wondering, I WILL throw something in where someone can win a requested one-shot like I have the past two fics… because I love you beautiful people and I'm awesome.

And lastly, as to the question of smut… My kink don't lie, but it does burn slowly.

Enjoy, my lovelies, and heya to the newcomers!

Songs: Gravity by Sara Bareilles and Clarity (acoustic) by Zedd, If Only from original Broadway cast (So, I totally had an epiphany while listening, so the breakdown is as follows: Emma as Ariel, Regina as Eric and seeking her own voice and independence, Horace as Sebastian, and Cora as Triton. For those of you who check out the songs as you read.)

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><p>"Regina."<p>

The Queen stirred her coffee as she had for the past five minutes, the spoon scraping the sides and the bottom in a screech and scratch of metal on porcelain. She failed to hear her name for the third time.

Cora slapped a hand over Regina's, startling the distracted queen. "What, Mother?" She snapped and flicked away the older woman's touch. She'd not spoken to either of the women in her life for two days, much less touched them. Not since her confusing need to kiss Emma Swan after the rather successful meeting with Ruby Lucas two days prior.

"I can no longer bear that horrid noise," Cora explained and dutifully tucked her hands into her lap. She'd barely touched her breakfast and Regina hadn't even asked for a plate yet.

"Apologies," The Queen murmured. "I'm a bit distracted." She snorted and shook her head at the thought as she sipped her cooling coffee.

Cora touched her arm hesitantly with tender fingertips. When Regina allowed the comfort, she squeezed her arm and smiled at her beautiful daughter. "Won't you tell Mommy what's bothering you?" Cora asked softly, using Regina's informal title as insurance.

Regina studied her mother over her coffee and sighed deeply when she found no insincerity in the woman's tone or face. "Are you no longer cross with me for keeping Emma?" She may have blatantly defied her mother, but that the rift between them still distressed her. She loved her mother despite her flaws. The gods knew she wasn't perfect, and her mother had never abandoned her because of her shortcomings - there were so many, too.

Cora clicked her tongue behind pursed lips and cupped Regina's face. "Much better to keep her here, given her lineage, than to release her into the world or kill her. She may yet prove useful to us," she reasoned.

Regina leaned into the gentle touch, eyes fluttering. "Exactly my thoughts, Mother," she agreed breathily. She loved her mother's gentle caresses.

"You care for her, Regina. There is no harm in spoiling our pets, but you must always remember who she is and what her purpose in this world is. She was created to destroy you, so you must always be vigilant," Cora warned lovingly, keeping her voice soft and gentle - a tactic Regina always responded to without fail.

"Mother, Emma cares for me. I don't know why, but she does." Regina held the warm hand against her cheek with both of hers, reveling in the love of the woman she'd worshipped her entire life.

"Do you care for her?"

"I…" Regina faltered and lowered her head, repositioning her mother's hand to her hair. "I know that you believe that -" The word felt too strong, so Regina searched for a surrogate to her mother's trademark phrase. "- attachments make us weak, but we became unstoppable, Mommy. No one has challenged us in ten years since the capture of Snow and her idiot, so perhaps… attachments combined with loyalty makes us stronger?"

Cora scratched at her daughter's scalp and seethed silently on the inside. "You've known this woman a week, Regina. She's fought you at every turn, struck your own mother and most loyal subject, and lied about her identity. How can she possibly have shown loyalty to you?"

Regina closed her eyes and gave herself to the wonderful sensation of her mother's fingers working her hair. She'd always love her hair touched. Her tongue stilled, and she allowed herself to enjoy the moment as long as it lasted. Cora rarely entertained her pathetic need for physical comfort, so she decided it shouldn't be destroyed by an argument, not when she'd been so confused since Emma hit her mother in her defense. The reason why she'd done that still remained unclear, and she hadn't seen Emma since that morning to ask her motives. Not physically anyway, just in the looking glass.

"Regina, I do not feel safe with her in this house," Cora uttered with a small quiver in her voice. The Queen's dark eyes fluttered open reluctantly to study the seemingly genuine fear in her mother's.

"I'll keep her elsewhere for the time being," she reassured her elder. Cora chewed the temporary solution for a long while and ran her fingers through silky black tresses.

"I can't kill her, Mommy. Please don't ask me to do that again," Regina begged when the silence stretched too long for comfort.

Cora nodded reluctantly. "As long as she remains separate from this house, I'll not suggest it again, my little queen," she agreed, and a smile tugged at Regina's lips at the pet name her mother had given her years before she ever rescued Snow from that horse.

"I cannot do this without you, Mother. I'd like you to come with me to Council today. There is much to be discussed. I think you'll be quite impressed with the progress I've made towards finding solutions to appease the growing tension between us and the commoners." Regina's face lifted hopefully, seeking the absolute approval her mother so rarely gave. One day she'd perfect her abilities as a ruler, and her mother would be proud of her. With Emma's assistance, she believed herself to be heading in that direction.

"I'm sure you've done a lovely job, Regina," Cora praised insincerely, and Regina's heart dropped.

"I have, Mother. For the first time since the curse broke, we've created an open line of communication with a leader of the community, and she's working with us instead of simply causing a fuss and then disappearing while we clean up the mess." Words fell from Regina's mouth rapidly in her excitement to brief her mother of her recent activities. She and Emma had made real progress. Cora looked unconvinced, so she continued.

"Did you know there are still people who are homeless due to the fire several years ago?" She wanted to see her mother's genuine reaction, so she gave her no warning. "We have homeless people in our kingdom, and they've come to us for help."

Cora startled, mouth dropping in shock. "I thought that was dealt with in the weeks following the incident. I vaguely remember a group pleading the case before me. Perhaps you are correct in the assumption that someone in our court is siphoning money into their own pockets."

Regina almost fell over from relief. Cora's reaction had been genuine. She knew that the woman who had ruled at her side for so many years hadn't blatantly dismissed subjects in need. A queen was only as powerful as the loyalty of her subjects after all… or the fear. She was too tired to create an appropriate amount of fear that kept her people in line. With Emma's assistance, she no longer required that dramatic reaction to her presence anyway.

"I'll find the culprit," Regina vowed and then pressed the back of Cora's hand to her cherry lips. "Please come back to work, Mother. We've seen our kingdom this far together. Let us see it to the end." A hopeful little girl spawned in Regina's voice, and Cora grinned at the utter vulnerability in The Queen's eyes. Every woman needed her mommy, no matter how powerful or foolish she became.

"As long as The Savior remains locked up," Cora compromised.

"Of course, Mother," Regina nodded enthusiastically, happy to find balance in her life once more. The emotions Emma inspired were terrifying and exciting and confusing and unfamiliar, but having Cora at her side once more comforted her, gave her a the fierce strength that had carried her this far. What she felt for Emma was powerful, but if she was forced to choose, Cora had never abandoned her or threatened her power. Everything she'd done had exulted her, given her power and prestige and position.

Regina smiled around a sip of her now cold coffee. Everything had begun working out in her favor. It struck her suddenly to tell Emma the happy news. Sure, she and Cora obviously had their own issues that required ironing, but she care for Regina and would want to know if something made her happy, right? Her brows knitted tightly as she puzzled out the confusing intricacies of relationships. She understood nothing, she realized. Any relationship outside of her mother confounded her.

Disturbed by the thought, she snapped her fingers towards Greg, and the meek man scurried to her. "Prepare a queen's breakfast in a transportable container, one for myself and one for Miss Swan."

He nodded and flitted away without making a sound, and Cora lifted an eyebrow in question. Regina stood and kissed the side of her mother's head. "I wish to share the happy news of your return with Emma," Regina explained.

If she were honest with herself, she needed to run away before she brought up her disturbing conversation with Rumeplstiltskin. If Cora knew she'd made a deal with him in order to find Emma's son, she'd have exploded. The Dark One had only dealt directly with Cora since Regina cast the curse, and she was quite particular about which tasks required his assistance and which ones didn't. She figured that Cora frowned deeply upon using him to bring Emma's son to Storybrooke.

Cora, however, was not thrilled with the development. "She's your pet, not your wife, Regina. You needn't share every detail with her," she batted at Regina's happiness like a cat with a new toy.

"Mother please," Regina halted the tangent before it gained momentum. "This is how it will be. If she cannot come to me, I must go to her. If I lose her loyalty, she will be useless to me," Regina reasoned, appeasing her mother's concerns with logic. Her heart, however, tugged her towards the unruly savior.

"You could always break her," Cora tossed out casually, as if completely obliterating Emma's personality meant little more than squishing a bug.

Greg chose that moment to enter the dining room carrying a cloth bag of Regina's requested meal. "Good morning, Mother. I'll see you soon at Council." Regina snatched the bag and departed in a swirl of smoke, reappearing in Emma's room.

She had no idea what awaited her in the isolation room. She'd not seen Emma since Horace informed her of their discovery of Henry's location. Up to this point, The Savior had been rather forgiving of her trials, but two days in the dark with only a silent guard and a dragon as company might have gone too far. She chewed her thumbnail and glanced around the room, wondering what would most appease Emma.

She snagged the music player and headphones but left the dock that made everything louder. There was no electricity in the cavern. A grin spread on her lips when she sat on the bed. With a tiny amount of concentration and a nod of her head, she and the bed flew apart and materialized in the dim room, scaring both Emma and Horace into defensive stances.

"Geez!" Emma exclaimed and threw her hands in the air. "What the hell is wrong with you? You can't just disappear for two days and then suddenly pop in with a whole fucking bed. What if I'd been standing there and my arm got stuck in a post or something?" She unleashed her frustration on the suspecting queen. Regina honestly anticipated nothing less from her rebellious pet.

Regina stood, leaving the Ipod and the food on the bed. "I suppose I could return it to your room," she agreed, playing with Emma from the start. Something about the woman made her want to giggle and jest.

"Don't you dare!" Emma leapt forward and wrapped her arms around one of the posts. "Cuddling with Horace is awkward as hell, and neither of us sleep well on the floor."

Regina made a disapproving noise in the back of her throat and wrinkled her nose. "Horace, you may go home and rest. Miss Swan cannot leave this room and her magic is contained."

Horace squeezed Emma's shoulder supportively as he passed. Emma waited until her guard/new friend ambled down the hall before turning angry eyes to her mistress. "Seriously, what the hell?"

Regina rolled her eyes and retreated to the giant chair with the bag of food. "What is your complaint, Miss Swan?" Regina knew exactly what the problem was, but she reveled in the chance to tease Emma into a flurry.

"Seriously? Two days, Regina. Two freaking days!" Emma waved her arms emphatically, too flustered to release all of her emotions with words. "I was worried that your psycho mom had killed you or something and that I was stuck down here forever. You can't just disappear like that," Emma reprimanded The Queen and crossed her arms over her chest protectively.

Regina's brow furrowed in confusion. Of everything she'd imagined flying from the tenacious woman's mouth, fear for her safety had not even made the list. The surprise apparently registered perfectly upon her features because Emma's arms slowly fell to her sides and then slipped into the back pockets of her jeans. The Savior dropped her head for a moment, and when it raised once more, her teeth clamped viciously on her lower lip. What the hell was Emma hiding?

"You needn't worry about my safety, Miss Swan. I'm very well protected," Regina diffused the situation with a dismissive wave… or thought she had.

"That doesn't matter!" Emma exploded. "You can't just disappear, Regina. I was really worried," she tried to make Regina understand, but the damn queen was so fucking insecure that she failed to fathom the possibility that someone other than her mother cared for her without being ordered to.

"I assure you, Miss Swan, if I die, the magic that contains you in this room will die with me. You will not be condemned to starvation should my unlikely demise occur," Regina tried again, her own patience growing thin.

"God, you're so thick," Emma whispered breathily and pinched the bridge of her nose. Regina remained silent, waiting, observing. What the hell had two days in this hole done to her?

"Mother is returning to Council with me today," Regina changed the subject hopefully. Her heart leapt like a giddy child hyped up on sugar. "Isn't that wonderful news?" She pushed when Emma failed to respond immediately.

"Yippee," Emma deadpanned and crossed her arms protectively over her chest. Regina's face fell, confused and dejected. She really, truly, honestly couldn't see why Emma wasn't happy? As much as Emma hated Cora, Regina's loss of childish glee tore at her. She loved her mother so much, seeking only ever to please her and gain her approval and love. It made Emma sick that Cora had twisted her brain so hideously.

"I'm glad you told me," Emma said suddenly, saving Regina from her confusion and depression. She cursed silently at her heart for being unable to bring any sort of pain to The Queen, even if she needed to know what a backstabbing cunt her mother was. "I know you've missed her at your side, and I'm sorry that something I did caused you pain like that."

Regina's face lit up, and a faint smile touched her lips. She ducked her head slightly and unpacked the containers from the bag along with two thermoses of coffee. When no further words tumbled from Emma's unrefined mouth, Regina asked, "Would you care for a proper breakfast?"

Emma's eyes raised slowly, and Regina presented the bacon, eggs, toast and fresh fruit. It looked a million times better than the meager meals provided to the prisoners, especially since Emma had taken to exercising to pass the time and keep her body limber from the lack of activity. It looked even better when Regina flicked her wrist and conjured a second plushy chair to match the first one. Emma played along and allowed Regina to feel a moment of happiness since she obviously came to the cavern to celebrate Cora's return with her over breakfast.

Emma slumped into the chair unceremoniously and leaned her elbows on her knees. Regina's mouth twitched as though it fought a smile. Food won Emma over every time. The Savior tucked into the massive breakfast fervently, moaning her pleasure at the taste of salty bacon upon her tongue. Regina crossed her legs, riding leather groaning, and simply observed rather than enjoy her own meal. She loved watching Emma.

When Emma finished the bacon and looked so dejected that Regina thought she'd whine like a puppy, The Queen opened her own container and held it out to her. Emma snatched the bacon greedily and munched into it with a cheeky grin. A laugh puffed at the back of Regina's throat, but her tightly closed lips held it inside her mouth.

She speared a piece of strawberry with her fork and placed it on her tongue to further stifle the joyous sound. Emma shoved her bacon to a jaw and spoke around the half-masticated pig meat. "You can laugh, ya know. I won't be offended."

Regina licked strawberry juice from her already red lips and averted her gaze to the platter of food and safely away from those stormy green eyes. She's always loved the ocean. The thought struck her as odd for the situation as a million images popped into her mind of her and her pet visiting the soothing waves. She shook her head lightly and chewed a piece of cantaloupe while Emma dug into her scrambled eggs.

After she swallowed, Regina said, "Contact has been made with the proper agency in order to obtain your son."

Emma almost choked on the giant mouthful of egg when she tried to swallow all of it at once in order to speak. She smacked her chest… because somewhere in her frazzled brain she figured that would help the painful lump slide down her esophagus faster. Regina waited patiently and chewed another strawberry, lips twitching with the effort of controlling a smile. Emma was positively brutish at times, and to the prim and proper queen, that quality made her a tantalizingly delectable dessert with a little blonde bow tied on top.

"How long until he gets here?" Emma blurted, unable to contain her excitement and relief.

"I'm uncertain. I've spoken with a social worker assigned to his case and have assumed personal responsibility for the boy as you are declared dead in this world," Regina explained calmly. "The boy is considered a high risk adoption, so his social worker wishes to place him with me as a foster child before pushing the adoption through. As soon as I am approved as a foster parent, you'll have your son."

"That's…" Emma scrubbed a hand over her face. "Regina," she laughed and smiled stupidly at the woman across from her, uncaring that the blatant love glowing in her eyes revealed everything she attempted to keep hidden from the guileless queen. "You're amazing."

Regina swallowed thickly and uncrossed her legs, only to cross the opposite on top uncomfortably. "He's been in some trouble, stealing and running away mostly," she explained rather than negotiate the cliffs and landslides of Emma's worshipful ejaculation.

Emma had to chuckle before she cried. He was her son, after all. "He sounds like me when I was in the system. I had way too much energy and not enough to do. He's good, though? Healthy? How's his grades? Are his grades good? They were always important to him… and you," Emma added just to see how Regina reacted to the statement.

The skin around her eyes tightened, but nothing else moved infinitesimally. Regina felt the comment deeply, Emma decided. She always went still when she felt too much. A flood of sadness filled Regina's eyes, and she lowered her gaze to the food once more in attempt to hide it.

"Regina?" Emma asked softly and touched the back of her hand across the ottoman with two fingertips. Regina swallowed roughly and dropped the fork to her plate before taking Emma's offered hand and squeezing tightly.

"Hey, what's wrong? All of this is good news, right?" Emma probed at the source of the problem, but without more information, she only floundered in open water in pitch black.

"My infertility may not have been a natural occurrence," The Queen confessed quietly without any real reason why. Perhaps, she simply needed to share the burden with someone who cared, but her mother had always opposed her desire for children and became sore when the subject arose. They'd had such a good morning after not speaking for two days that she feared destroying it with her pathetic whimpering.

"What? How?" Emma blurted and covered the back of Regina's hand with her other hand. "Who?" She continued angrily when no answer followed the first two questions. Who dared to violate Regina like that?

"I think Rumeplstiltskin may have cursed me," she explained quietly. A rush of rage followed by the burn of tears flushed her cheeks.

"Can it be broken?"

Regina raised one thin shoulder and dropped it before snatching her hand from between Emma's and covering her face. Emma followed the hand and rounded the ottoman to take the distraught queen into her arms, the chair large enough to accommodate both women. Regina never reciprocated the embrace of strong arms around her. That fact never hindered Emma from squeezing her tightly and kissing her temple, though.

"We'll find a way to break it if you really want a child, Regina. I'm The Savior, remember? Breaking curses is kind of my thing," she quipped, lightening the mood.

Regina's head raised slowly, and Emma caught the solitary tear she'd allowed to escape her vice-like control. Her thumb lingered beneath Regina's eye and then trailed across her cheekbone before sliding down her cheek in tender caress. Regina stared at her with that same expression of terror she'd worn two days ago after kissing her at Town Hall.

Emma's chest heaved with the effort of remaining perfectly still so as not to spook the cornered tiger further lest she wind up with claw tracks all over her body again. She finally understood: the slap the day Regina offered to wash her hair, the sudden teleport after their kiss two days ago, the distance, the overt sexual advances - intimacy scared the hell out of Regina. She felt like punching herself in the head for never having thought of that one simple fact in the three years she'd known Regina Mills.

"Regina, I…" A blaring of a boring, pre-set ring tone of Regina's cell phone interrupted her, and they flew apart as though magic itself repelled their bodies from one another.

The Queen answered the phone and stood to pace across the room with a hand firmly planted on her hip, probably to keep it from shaking. Emma growled inaudibly and dropped her head between her hands, trembling fingers of her own buried in golden tresses.

"What!" Regina exclaimed and then ended the call. "We must go," she barked as she whirled and strode towards Emma in one fluid motion.

"What's wrong?" Emma asked, scared by the wild fury in her mistress' eyes.

"Ruby Lucas has been attacked and beaten unconscious. She's being transported to the hospital as we speak."


	20. United

*bows* Thank you so much for the reviews and follows. I write fanfic for fun without any monetary intentions, so it's really not worth it unless I know you're all having a great time. So, thank you for making this as memorable for me as it hopefully is for you. *mwah*

Song: Off with her Head by Icon for Hire

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><p>The moment they materialized in the emergency room, Regina pressed her phone to her ear once more. Staff and patients scattered from her path, and Emma nearly jogged to keep up with the frenzied pace of their leader. Fury rolled from the other woman in steadying mists, and Emma almost wished to be anywhere but there… almost. She agreed to see this thing through with Regina, and if it killed her, she intended to do just that.<p>

"Graham, I need you to organize the riot guard. Miss Lucas has been attacked, and I wish to prevent casualties if at all possible. We must act before this escalates," Regina barked into the phone, and hospital personnel stared at The Queen in shock, whether from the news of Ruby's assault or the hopeful prevention of more violence, Emma couldn't have said.

"Evacuate the house staff to the stronghold immediately and place archers on the roof. Tell them I've decreed an injure-only scenario, no kill shots if it can be helped," Regina continued as they stepped into the daylight via the automatic doors where emergent patients in ambulance transport were admitted to triage.

A small crowd had already gathered, and Emma rolled her eyes. Too bad the news still traveled faster than the ambulances in this world. She kept a watchful eye for anyone who might have dared to show aggression towards their queen, but most everyone pointed and whispered and stared but feared venturing closer. The siren already sounded down the street, and Emma wished for it's arrival. Regina was completely exposed and distracted out in the open. If she prepared for an all out riot, anything could have happened while her guards commuted.

"Graham, I want you and Horace here as quickly as possible, but you must organize the riot control at the mansion and the throne hall. In the meantime, send me four of my personal guard. Yes, four!" Regina sniped. "Two will be assigned to Miss Lucas to prevent any further attempts to her life."

A battle cry sounded from the crowd, and Emma sprinted out to meet the brave but suicidal soul. She recognized her as Ashley, a.k.a Cinderalla and one of Ruby's closest friends. Emma caught the wrist wielding the dagger and tackled the slight woman to pavement like a linebacker. The crowd fell silent, and Regina's cell phone bounced off the cement where she stood frozen on the sidewalk.

Emma wrenched the dagger free and flung it away from all onlookers and distraught fairytale creatures. "Ashley, stop fighting me. I'm trying to help you!" Emma yelled in her face and shook the woman by her shirt violently. She settled when she realized that The Queen's chosen pet sat atop her hips.

Realization of what she'd done washed over her, and she fell limp against the blacktop. Emma released a ragged, relieved sigh and pulled the shaking woman to her feet. A tingle of magic raised the hair on the back of her neck, and she whipped around fast enough to make herself dizzy and positioned herself between Ashley and her mistress.

"No, Regina. This was a mistake born out of intense emotions. She lashed out at the most likely and convenient target," Emma explained exactly what happened even as Regina pulled a fireball into her hand.

"Put it out, Regina!" She yelled, shocking the hell out of everyone. "If you want to keep peace, you will let this one go. You can't just fry one of Ruby's best friends and expect her to keep cooperating. Let. It. Go," she emphasized each word, praying Regina diffused the situation before it escalated more than it had. If she let Ashley go, word of that probably kept an all out riot from erupting.

"Go home, little girl," Regina seethed through clenched teeth and closed her fist around the fireball. Emma nearly fell over from the cold relief that surged through her body.

"Get the hell out of here, Ashley, and tell anyone who will listen that Regina is not responsible for this. We're going to find out who is, though, and I promise to slit their throats myself," Emma vowed. Ashley nodded and then took off in a dead sprint through the crowd.

Emma watched her for a moment and scanned the crowd simultaneously. Whispers spread and fingers pointed, but no one looked angry by the outcome of what could have been a legally execution-worthy situation. Ashley's life had been spared out of the goodness of Regina's heart, and everyone acknowledged that with a heavy conscience. The Evil Queen hadn't plotted to assassinate Ruby in attempt to quiet the complaints, and she just inadvertently proved it in the eyes of her people.

Emma returned to Regina's side wearily and prayed that she escaped her own punishment for yelling at her mistress in public. Regina snagged her phone from the ground and examined the screen. The protective case saved it from any cracks, so Regina immediately dialed another number as the siren blared in the background.

"Thank you," Regina muttered into the phone and then turned her back to make another call. Emma smiled, not even bothered by the fact that she greeted Cora on the other end this time.

Regina ended the call as the ambulance pulled up to the dock and the back doors flew open. A paramedic that Emma failed to recognize jumped out, followed by Granny. Emma gasped and wavered when Ruby's battered body came into view. Regina touched her waist and waited at her side for them to remove the injured wolf from the ambulance, and the world stabilized.

"How bad is it?" The Queen demanded, but the paramedic shook his head.

"We won't know until they do some scans. Vitals are stable, though," he answered to the best of his abilities.

"What exactly do you know? The curse gave you the knowledge required to perform this job, you incompetent, contemptible, waste of oxygen," Regina laid into the man who cowered slightly.

Emma touched the hand on her waist. "Stop, it's not his fault," she whispered quietly and then nodded for them to continue into the triage area. "Get her in there, so we can figure out what she needs."

Nails dug into Emma's waist, but Regina's hand never left her body. Had the pathetic assassination attempt freaked The Queen out more than she showed? Ashley never would have come close enough to her to get in a kill stab, but Regina rarely walked about without at least Graham at her side. Emma took her hand and threaded their fingers together, too worried about Ruby to even consider how the intimate contact made her feel.

She touched Granny's shoulder with the other and received a glare from the elder Lucas. She hadn't yet met Emma in this timeline. The Savior rolled her eyes and pulled Regina into the automatic doors behind the train of medical staff rushing to the aid of their beloved wolf. Many of them shot dirty looks at The Queen, but Regina remained quiet and docile, so they kept their mouths shut, heads down, and focused on their jobs.

"Regina," Emma whispered and pulled her to the side, one eye on the room where Ruby disappeared and the other on the room behind Regina in anticipation of another attack. "I'm going to go talk to the crowd and try to stop any sort of backlash before it starts. I want you to go in that room and put your back in a corner and stay there until I get back. Can you do that?"

"Miss Swan," Regina berated huffily and jerked Emma towards the doors. "If you are addressing my kingdom, I demand to be present. I am not a damsel," she repeated for the second time. Emma smirked. She was Regina's hero.

By the time they arrived in the parking lot, an even larger crowd convened with Robin at the front spouting off his bullshit. Anger tore through Emma and were it not for Regina's tight grip on her right hand, she probably would have decked the pretentious ass. She marched directly to him with Regina supporting her every move and pushed him.

"Do not rile the public, you imbecile!" Emma challenged him in front of a suddenly silent rally. "Are you trying to start a panic or a riot? That's only going to lead to more people getting hurt, and I'm not going to let that happen if I have to throw you in prison myself, you fucking moron."

Emma turned towards the crowd, but Robin stepped in front of her menacingly. "Are we to believe The Queen's whore?" He yelled in her face. The crowd murmured behind him.

"The very woman who led Ruby into a trap that almost killed her!" Outraged cries followed the brazen accusation.

"Regina," Emma caught her mistress' attention and pointed to her throat. Regina smirked and flicked one finger. Robin yelled something else but only clucks and crows of a rooster met their ears.

Emma nearly doubled over with laughter, saved only by the image of Ruby so broken. She pushed Robin into the crowd and took his place. "Enough of this! Ruby was attacked, yes, but we don't know who did it. Regina has taken personal responsibility for her care and protection. Until then, let's honor Ruby's wishes," Emma suggested on the fly, quite satisfied with herself for the brilliant stroke of genius.

"Ruby only wants peace. She would be so happy to see that so many people care about her and feel outrage at her injustice, but she wouldn't want you to rip apart the town and attack the people trying to help you." Emma glanced at Regina while the crowd digested her words. The Queen nodded and stepped beside her.

"Go back to work," Regina ordered. "There are still supplies that need moved to the convent. All of my guards are on high alert at the moment, as you can well understand with the situation. Robin, take your men and continue moving the beds from the prison and assist Mother Superior with any arrangements she may have to make."

Robin clucked ferociously. Regina rolled her eyes. "I'm advocating for peace, you moronic Neanderthal," she seethed dangerously and stepped towards the man. Emma let her go. She'd had enough of Robin fucking Hood. He was much cooler as a fox, she decided.

"Despite an attempt already made on my life, I will fulfill the promises made to Miss Lucas," Regina reminded everyone, and Emma beamed with pride. "I expect no less from every single person here. Now go home or do something useful. Two of you may wait in the lobby to spread word of Miss Lucas' condition as we receive information."

Regina spun on her heel and stalked towards the triage area, and Emma watched her rage for a moment. Robin clucked angrily. "Right," Emma agreed. "Regina, Robin's voice," she called, jogging after her mistress. Damn, she moved fast.

"Is appropriate," The Queen answered without turning back or even glancing over her shoulder. "I am reminding him of his imminent fate if he does not learn to use it properly." She whirled dramatically at the door and fixed Robin with a death glare. "Anyone who wishes to take his place and start a riot can join his roasting innards on a spit at my dinner this evening."

With that warning, she disappeared into the hospital, and Emma tried her damnedest not to laugh while trailing a few feet behind her mistress. Honestly, she expected something far worse than spelling someone's voice to only chicken clucks. The Queen behaved impeccably, so Emma ignored the crowing of the bandit's protests and caught up to Regina.

"Regina, wait up. God, how do you move that fast in leather that tight?" Emma grumbled. She slammed into Regina's back when The Queen stopped abruptly in front of the room where Ruby was supposed to be.

"Where is Miss Lucas?" She demanded of the poor nurse who happened to be walking down the hallway at that moment.

"X-ray, Majesty," she blurted immediately. Fear shone in her eyes, but it hadn't affected her speech or behavior. Good, Emma thought, a warrior of some kind.

"Take me there," Regina ordered.

The nurse turned slightly and pointed down the hallway. "Make a right at the end of the hall, go through the double doors. I think she's in the first room."

Regina blew past the sturdy woman who hadn't simply bowed down but earned Regina's respect nonetheless. Sure enough, the directions pointed them directly to Ruby. Granny stood outside the X-ray room on the opposite side of the hallway and wrung her hands, unaware of anyone's eyes upon her. Regina stepped beside the woman and clasped her hands in front of her hips, and the older woman's face hardened.

"Hello, Granny," Regina said softly, and Emma almost exploded from the whiplash of this very surprising Regina.

"Raised you better," Granny huffed and wrung her hands again.

"Yes, you did. This incident was not executed beneath my banner," Regina explained quietly. Granny relaxed visibly but maintained the anxious wringing of her hands before clasping them in front of her hips.

"Whale believes she may have internal injuries," Granny replied, not verbally acknowledging Regina's plea of innocence. She believed it, though, Emma noted.

"She's a wolf. She'll recover," Regina said in a dull, even voice. It came as close to comforting as Regina was capable.

"What the frilly fuck?" Emma sputtered, watching their conversation like an avid tennis fan in a championship match.

"She's a pup," Granny countered, completely ignoring Emma's outburst. "She had no business carrying on like a damn fool hero."

"She's a strong woman who made her own decisions, Elizabeth. She was dedicated to forgetting the past and making the future better, just as I am. I will not let this be in vain," Regina vowed and held a steady gaze on the door where Ruby currently received medical treatment.

Emma's face felt like an inferno as she wrapped her mind around everything happening. The two older women stood with rigid postures, muted expressions, and anxious hands clasped in front of their hips. The dots seemed obvious, but Emma failed to connect them. Obviously, Regina picked up that very common gesture from Granny Lucas, who apparently had a first name despite her claims otherwise.

"I told you to keep her from the war and I would ensure her safety. I've done that and will continue to do so until this curse has been broken," Regina promised, almost breaking the invisible wall they'd created between them. Her eyes flicked to the side, but she pulled them back immediately.

The door opened behind Emma and presented a still unconscious Ruby, covered in blood and bruises and cuts. Her stomach lurched and knotted, and Emma felt ashamed that she turned her face from the horrific image. Whoever committed this act of, well treason apparently, meant to kill Ruby. If not for her wolf's strength, Emma sincerely doubted a normal person's ability to have survived such savagery.

"I can do nothing for the internal injuries, but I'll heal the superficial wounds, Emma," Regina assured her and took Emma's hand again. Emma stared at their linked fingers, her alabaster skin appearing paler next to Regina's tanned olive complexion.

"Regina, this was an assassination attempt, but they forgot to factor her wolf. She wasn't supposed to survive this," Emma whispered, but Granny's sensitive ears perked anyway. The elder clenched her jaws and touched her granddaughter's hand as they moved back towards triage.

"I'll find them, Emma, and I will kill each and every one very slowly," Regina promised, and Emma believed every word without on shred of guilt.

She bowed her head when a tear slipped onto her cheek. Regina caught the tiny droplet with her thumb just as Emma had wiped hers away less than 20 minutes ago. As sweet as the gesture was, it only solidified Emma's resolve to maintain her distance from the damaged woman. Regina learned how to interact normally in situations by observing Emma. She was broken, and now Ruby was broken. Her allies dropped like flies all of a sudden.

"Before, in the cave, you were saying something when my phone rang," Regina prodded gently despite the insatiable curiosity bubbling in her chest.

"Oh," Emma answered and ducked her head again. _I love you, _she said silently and raised her eyes to those dark ones studying her. "I…" Emma took both of Regina's hands in her own and held them between their chests. She studied the joined appendages for a moment before once more meeting Regina's eyes gazing up at her patiently, compassionately. She was human again.

"I am really honored that you feel comfortable enough with me to share things like that. I'll do everything I can to help you," Emma copped out, fear and loyalty to a friendship she may never have experienced again stealing her courage.

"Oh," Regina said and adjusted her shoulders disappointedly. Somehow, she'd not expected the cookie cutter response. Emma felt more deeply than that.

"Regina," Emma whined. _I love you._ Tears burned her throat as she fought them, but they dripped onto her cheeks anyway. Emma grabbed her hand and jerked her into the now-empty X-ray room.

Regina cleared her throat. "Miss Swan, I am a queen, not a balloon on a string," Regina snapped and slapped Emma's hands away before adjusting her riding jacket.

"Regina," Emma tried again. _I love you._

Emma covered her eyes with one hand and pressed the other into her lurching stomach. She wanted to be selfish. She wanted Regina. The cold hand of unspoken yearning wrapped around her heart and ached in her fingertips. How had she never felt these feelings before? She hadn't fallen this hard in a week. This Regina simply unlocked them by opening a path to a world she'd never dreamed possible, one where Regina desired her sexually. It was wrong to use her intimate knowledge of Regina's past and personality to take advantage of her. It was, Emma scolded herself internally.

"Regina," Emma rasped in a hollow whisper and reached for the one who apparently held her heart in whatever timeline she landed. She fell into Regina, hiding her face in The Queen's neck and her strong arms wrapped around that beautiful neck.

A surprised sound jarred from Regina's throat, and her hands hovered shakily in the air near Emma's sides. "Regina, hug me back," Emma directed. The Queen sputtered, adrenaline spiking painfully. "Regina, please, hug me back," she begged as her tears dripped onto Regina's collarbone.

"I don't hug," Regina protested. "What on earth has possessed you, Miss Swan? Release me at once," she ordered, her voice rising in pitch with her panic and blood pressure.

"Regina, please. Ruby was one of my best friends in the other timeline, and that hasn't changed for me yet. I miss my parents and my son and I miss you and everything is so screwed up here and I need a goddamn hug. Now hug me back!" Emma yelled at the woman squirming in her embrace.

The pressure on her waist was gentle at first. It was enough. Emma sighed harshly and leaned more heavily into the shorter woman. Regina turned her face into Emma's neck and slid her arms around her pet's back and hips. Terror swelled and crashed in her chest at first and almost forced her into an emergency teleport. After a moment, her body relaxed and the world stopped vibrating around the edges.

It felt… nice. A shy smile spread on her lips, and she hid them on Emma's shoulder though no one else could possibly have seen the joyous gesture, not even The Savior. Regina sighed deeply, her face falling slowly as her heart plummeted off a suicide cliff. How could one person cause so much joy and dread simultaneously?

Because she was The Savior and the person Regina chose to alleviate the loneliness of her life. She was death and salvation wrapped in one person. She was her doom, and Regina felt powerless to stop that when Emma felt so wonderful in her arms.


	21. Fools

Hello, Lovelies! Say hello to your new neighbors, poke them if you must. I always make it a point to do that at some point on a long ride. Thank you so much for the wonderful reviews and howdy to the new followers. Welcome!

Enjoy, My sweets…. Also, please forgive me for being sadistic. I'm almost sorry for this cunt punch in the feels.

Song: Fools by Lauren Aquilina

* * *

><p>"Are you sure she's going to be okay?" Emma asked for the hundredth time since Regina suggested they leave the hospital. She collapsed onto her bed now located in the isolation room, and hated her heart for screaming so loudly at her to remain at Ruby's side. It wasn't that bad now that Regina healed the cuts on her face.<p>

"I have guards posted at every entrance and exit of each floor and two of my personal guard stationed outside her room. They are trained and ordered to trust no one but me. Miss Lucas is well-protected," Regina reassured her and clasped her hands in front of her hips.

Emma smiled up at the other woman. She'd changed so much so quickly. While Emma knew it was partly due to her influence, Regina mostly changed because she'd wanted to change. She only needed the support completely free of judgment on which to make her stand. She needed an ally, and Emma gave her that to the best of her ability. It was difficult to know what to say when Regina was so unpredictable in this timeline. One minute she lashed her with a magical whip and the next she practically asked her to marry her, for lack of better terms.

"Come lay down for a minute. We've been going all day, and we missed lunch," Emma justified the request. Her grumbling stomach gave evidentiary support in the form of a loud, long gurgle. Emma slapped a hand over it and smiled sheepishly at the amused.

"Why? I've my own sleeping chambers," Regina reasoned, and Emma almost laughed. The poor woman had no clue how to be a friend, but she desperately sought understanding at every turn.

"It's not about sleeping," Emma corrected gently so as not to offend the woman. "We had a rough day. It's about… I don't know, just knowing we're not alone, I guess. It's comforting." Emma shrugged and tossed her hands behind her head nonchalantly, pretending the offer was no huge deal. To both of them, it was huge. Emma's life stunted her emotionally as much as Regina's had, just in different ways, and expressing emotions and asking for comfort came as torturously for her as it did Regina.

The Queen raised an eyebrow but remained standing by the bed near Emma's head. Emma released a deep sigh and closed her eyes. She'd tried to coerce Regina to get comfortable and used the last of her energy reserves in the process. It was Emma time, she decided. The day sucked the life from her. Between crowd control and waiting for Ruby to wake up, which she still hadn't done, exhaustion rooted in her weary muscles and refused to be swayed with the biggest platter of bacon known to man.

The bed wiggled, and a smile slowly split Emma's face. She cracked her eyes in time to see Regina swing her leg from the floor and over her hips. The smile disappeared with Emma's dropping jaw. That hadn't been exactly what she'd meant, but at least Regina reached out for comfort. She was so slight that Emma barely felt the added pressure of her weight pressing upon her thighs and hips.

"That's not what I meant," she teased lightheartedly, hoping to keep the situation from escalating into another rejection for the already wounded woman atop her.

Regina popped the button on her riding jacket and shrugged it slowly over her shoulders. Emma swallowed roughly, unable to prevent her eyes from dragging over the tight bodice of black leather. It was softer than her pants, almost like pliable rawhide or perhaps suede, and pushed her breasts up to a beautiful display a few inches from those tantalizing collarbones.

"Regina, please don't make me reject you again," Emma pleaded breathily, finding it difficult to find enough lung pressure to force the words out.

"You spoke of comfort in a bed. I assumed you comforted yourself with sex as I do," Regina bit, injecting venom with each word. She moved to dismount The Savior, but Emma's firm hands upon her thighs stopped her cold.

"You don't have to move," she backpedaled, searching for the rope of salvation in the quick sand she'd created once more. Dark eyes narrowed, boring a hole into Emma's face. Emma swallowed and forced herself not to look away.

"Just don't go any further. Can you do that?" Green eyes flicked back and forth, searching for any sort of emotional indicator in the dark orbs gazing down at her. Regina's brow furrowed a moment before she nodded and settled upon Emma's hips again. One side of Emma's mouth pulled into a grin, and she squeezed Regina's thighs encouragingly, leaving her hands there to prove she really hadn't minded being mounted.

"You are a most confusing creature, Emma Swan," Regina proclaimed thoughtfully, almost more to herself than to the woman she addressed. She leaned forward and braced her arms on either side of Emma's head. Emma held her breath, unsure exactly what was happening.

Regina whispered, ghosting warm air over Emma's face. She captured Emma's lips chastely between her own and held them for one breath. As quickly as it came, the kiss ended, and Regina settled her weight upon Emma's hips once more.

"I thought you said you could be good," Emma rasped, far more thrown and aroused by the very tame but no less passionate kiss.

Regina wiggled and ground her hips into Emma's until she deemed herself comfortable enough and Emma thoroughly teased and biting her bottom lip to keep from making a sound. A devilish smirk grew upon her lips and a perfectly sculpted eyebrow quirked, feigning innocence. "I'm no angel, Miss Swan."

Emma stared up at her with hazy eyes for a few seconds and then chuckled to release the sudden tension in her chest. "No, are you not, Regina Mills," she agreed with a playful grin, allowing the light mood to settle into her suddenly heated body.

It felt wonderful to be with Regina like this, comfortable and right. Yet, a mocking voice in the back of her mind told her that if she ever returned home, the original Regina would fillet her emotionally for the sentiment. An image of Regina and Robin tucked cozily into one another beneath a blanket laughing at her unrequited yearning for the woman she was meant to reform. It tore at her heart, so she pushed it aside as best she could and focused on this queen instead.

Regina's head dropped slightly in thought. Emma waited and watched the ideas flicker and grow on Regina's face only to fade a few seconds later and be replaced with another. The Queen closed her eyes, but they moved beneath the lids as she processed the words and images within her own mind. For the first time, Emma pondered how terrifying it was in there, Regina's mind.

"What are you thinking?" She murmured, and The Queen's eyes opened slowly.

"Why do you care?" Regina barked suddenly. The question surprised her more than angered her, but the emotions got crossed between her brain and her mouth.

"Easy," Emma laughed and held her hands up in mock surrender. "I was just wondering, that's all. You don't have to tell me, but sometimes it helps to talk it out." Her hands returned to Regina's legs, thumbs brushing a soothing and repetitive trek on her inner thigh near her knee.

"The other Regina, from your timeline, she's the reason you will not submit sexually?" Regina asked with a deathly seriousness, which would have made Emma laugh if she knew she'd get away with it sans an embarrassed and pissy Regina. Her hips shifted innocently, and Emma bit the inside of her jaw. Regina meant to kill her slowly by over-arousal, she knew it.

"That's part of the reason," Emma answered honestly and sat up. Regina resisted slightly when Emma tried to pull her down beside her and off her very tingly core.

"Miss Swan, if you do not refrain from jerking your queen about, I shall break your hands," Regina threatened, but it was empty.

Emma smirked and pressed her lips to Regina's, tasting the tart of her lipstick instantly. Her hands slid up Regina's thighs until she grasped her surprisingly curvaceous and feminine hips hidden beneath her ridiculous costumes. With very little urging, she used her hands to guide The Queen to the bed. She turned to the side, positioning Regina's head on her shoulder without breaking the kiss. A cheeky grin split her lips when she finally pulled back from the heavily breathing queen.

"I'm no angel either, Your Majesty. Welcome to the land of cuddles," Emma teased. Regina tensed for a hot second as she realized exactly how she'd been innocently manipulated, and Emma held her breath to see if she'd pull away or not.

Regina straightened one leg against hers, the other still slung over her hips. One arm bent between them and hugged Regina's ribs tightly, and she pulled the other into a white-knuckled fist atop her thigh. She looked uncomfortable as hell, and Emma shook her head adoringly. Confidence filled her up to the moment she touched Regina's fist. Her hand trembled against The Queen's, and a tiny gasped pulled between those candy apple lips.

"It's okay," Emma whispered, to herself as much as the other woman. "This stuff is hard for me, too," she admitted without meaning to, but she never even thought to take it back when Regina relaxed against her and allowed her hand to be placed on Emma's belly with an open palm and splayed fingers.

"If you're uncomfortable, why are we partaking in such a silly activity?" Regina presented another question born in her need to understand normal relationships.

"Because I'm a masochist," Emma muttered. Holding Regina so closely but denying herself the pleasure of fully exploring the physical side of their relationship was self-imposed torture. But damn it, it felt good. She felt too good when she held Regina. She never should have hugged her earlier that day at the hospital. She was addicted, and she felt her resolve slip a little more with each new development.

Regina hummed at the answer. "Is that the reason you are incapable of controlling your mouth?" Emma chuckled but remained otherwise quiet.

"What's the other part? Why won't you submit when you clearly desire me?" Regina asked when Emma quieted.

"I don't want to submit, Regina. Yes, I want to be with you. That's not even a question, but it's… it's complicated. I don't want our friendship to be destroyed if I can get everything back to normal, but if I can't then, I want you to see me as a person, not property. I know that's going to take time," she explained as best she could and trailed feathery fingertips over Regina's forearm.

Regina readjusted her head on Emma's shoulder but remained silent for a long time. Emma turned her face into Regina's hair and smiled at her clandestine delight. Regina smelled like peace - earthy and subtle and delicious, like a faint hint of incense upon a sweater. She nuzzled the silky hair, just to test Regina's reaction to it. If The Queen noticed, she never said a word.

"Who do you think attacked Miss Lucas?" Regina asked suddenly, sadness tinting her voice. It completely destroyed Emma's happy bubble because she had a pretty strong opinion on what happened to Ruby. Cora.

Emma snorted and averted her gaze to the magical web over the chasm, allowing it to remind her exactly how tenuous this conversation was. "I'm not sure you want me to answer that question, Regina."

"Why?" Regina demanded and propped herself up on an elbow to stare down at her.

"Because you're really not going to like my answer, and I really don't want to spend another night in that web," Emma explained as she met her eyes again. Regina set her jaw and took a deep breath.

"You believe mother is to blame," Regina accused angrily.

"Regina, please don't put me in that web, but I have to tell you something. Can you promise not to put me in the web?" Emma's voice shook with the thought, but she trusted the progress she'd made with Regina not physically punishing her for speaking up when the appropriate moment arose.

"I shall try," Regina conceded and raised her chin slightly in a pompous show of authority that made Emma want to roll her eyes. She might have if what she planned to say wasn't jumping off a cliff and hoping for the best.

"In my timeline, your mom… I don't know all the details or why or anything like that, but… in my timeline, Cora took out her heart and kept it in a box." Emma bit her lower lip and waited anxiously for a reaction. Any reaction would have done. Any at all. But Regina only stared at her with narrowed eyes but an otherwise blank expression.

Emma flinched when a short bark of laughter echoed off the cave walls. "That's preposterous," Regina denied the truth, a possibility Emma anticipated.

"I know it sounds that way, Regina, but it's the truth. I'm sorry, but she acts exactly like the Cora from my world acted," Emma implored The Queen to understand, to believe just a little. If they found Cora's heart and returned it, maybe her fated changed from the deceased Cora Mills from her timeline. She'd loved Regina once her heart had been returned. She'd seen it in her eyes, heard it in her voice.

"Acted?" Regina latched onto the word she'd used in the past tense. Shit. Shit. Shit.

"Regina, just listen to me," Emma begged and followed The Queen as she sat up and pulled her legs beneath her to kneel on the bed. "If we could find Cora's heart and put it back in, then I think we…"

"Enough!" Regina cut her off and pushed her flat onto the bed again. Emma shot upright once the other woman dismounted the mattress and grabbed her jacket. It was a protective gesture to cover herself up, Emma realized and stepped gently on the glass floor cracking beneath her.

Regina slid into her coat and whirled on Emma without buttoning the front. "How dare you suggest such a heinous thing? My mother has been loyal and loving my entire life. I would not be where I am today without her guidance and support." Her spine straightened rigidly, but Emma saw the cracks of doubt splintering Regina's faith in her mother. She lashed out so abruptly because a part of her believed Emma.

"Exactly," Emma agreed pointedly. "You are here right now, lonely and depressed and keeping the company of the woman who is supposed to be your worst enemy because your mother has done nothing but manipulate and abuse and control you your entire life, Regina. Please just take a step back and see what I'm saying from my perspective," she pleaded, keeping her voice as soft and non-threatening as possible. She wanted to scream at The Queen to stop being stupid, but that would have landed her in the nexus for sure.

Regina stared blankly at her for at least a full minute before a rush of pain and anger flooded her eyes. Her lips pulled into a sneer, and Emma's heart sank like a coin in a wishing well with exactly the same result: nothing happened. Cora's roots of influence entrenched much deeper than Emma's. She'd conditioned her daughter far too well to ever believe a cross word spoken about her.

"Mother warned me this would happen," Regina growled, anchoring herself firmly within her fervent denial of the truth, her voice the dangerously deep timbre of The Evil Queen. The woman before her transformed into that animalistic predator Emma experienced her first few days in this timeline.

"I'm not trying to tear you apart, Regina. I'm trying to help both of you," Emma amended her intentions, leaving no room for misinterpretation. It was too late. She reached for Regina in desperation, but the sorceress threw up her hand, immobilizing Emma instantly. Fear gripped her heart when she thought that she might have been tossed into the glowing grid again.

"You abhorrent, traitorous, inconsequential insect. Did you honestly believe I would be so guileless? Do you take me for a naïve fool, Savior?" Regina asked rhetorically. Genuine hurt danced in her eyes for only a moment before she killed it with wrath.

"Regina, please, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have told you, but I just…Damn it, I'm trying to protect you!" Emma yelled as her own emotions overtook her. She'd lost her again. She watched it happen in the blink of an eye.

Regina barked a harsh, mocking laugh. "Enjoy your new home, Savior. Mother will enjoy her new boy immensely."

Crap. Henry. How had she forgotten about Henry? "Regina, please," Emma begged hoarsely, her voice catching on the ache of tears in her throat.

"Enough," The Queen bit coldly and approached Emma with calculated steps. Claws pressed crescents into Emma's cheeks and forced her face to the position Regina's desired. Emma refrained from fighting it as Regina pressed her face close, close enough to puff breath onto Emma's lips. A different kind of pain filled her heart as the ghosts of memories reminded her of the same sensation not ten minutes before in the bed.

"Enough of your pretty lies. Mother was right, and you'll never see your son again," she promised with a malicious smile. Emma felt her heart shatter into a thousand pieces.

"Regina, please, I won't bring it up again. I promise. Please," Emma begged, but Regina only stared as though her mind searched for the emotions she was supposed to feel but hadn't.

"Regina, please don't leave me," Emma breathed into the empty space where sorceress disappeared in a swirl of purple haze. Emma dropped to her knees, too weak to stand any longer.

"Regina!"

Only the hollow echo of her own voice answered the cry.


	22. Magic

Hello again, my lovelies! Thank you so much for the reviews and follows. This chapter was tons of fun. :)

Enjoy!

Song: Shatter Me by Lindsey Stirling and Lzzy Hale

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><p>Emma kicked her heels against the wall of the chasm where she sat staring into the abyss. The door at the end of the hall shut quietly, and she bowed her head before the tears overtook her face. Her visitor wasn't Regina. It was never Regina, only Horace who never spoke, even when he answered his phone. She'd begun to wonder if Regina permanently stole his voice. It was an awful thought.<p>

The woman she loved was a monster.

Horace joined her on the ledge and silently extended her Ipod that had run out of juice yesterday. Emma held it in her lap and fingered the rubber case at the corner. "Thanks. It's hard to sleep with Maleficent breathing so loudly. I think she has sleep apnea. Her snoring is atrocious."

Horace chuckled silently and pulled his cell phone from a hidden pocket in his jacket. Emma figured it had vibrated or something, so when he handed it to her with a picture of Henry filling the screen, she nearly dropped the damn thing down the hole. Her son stared up at Regina who was dressed in her more modern clothing, probably to set him at ease. The picture was a little blurred and taken from across the room, but Emma swore she saw a softness in Regina that only Henry inspired.

Tears spilled onto her dirty face. "How long have I been down here alone?" she asked and brushed her thumb over Henry's cheek.

"A little over a week," Horace answered. Emma jerked in surprise, and Horace shrugged sheepishly.

"You can talk!" Emma smacked him playfully on the shoulder.

"No one ever said I couldn't. I simply hadn't much to say before now," he informed her almost haughtily in a deep, sophisticated voice she hadn't expected. Of every voice she imagined coming out of Horace's mouth, it had never sounded smooth and refined, like Regina's.

"Your boy arrived yesterday. He's adjusting. The Queen has not harmed him nor do I believe she has any intention of doing so," Horace offered what comfort he could. Emma touched Regina's picture on the tiny screen, the new knowledge softening her heart towards the distant queen.

"Your pirate friend, unseemly as he is, has come under the care of Granny Lucas for your part in protecting the peace her granddaughter has worked so hard to obtain. Ruby Lucas finally woke up two days ago. She has no memory of the incident but has agreed to The Queen's protection," he continued the flow of fantastic news. Emma deserved it.

She lay back on the cool stone, taking the phone with her, as she felt too much to stay upright any longer. After a week of solitude with only Horace as company for a few moments in mornings and evenings when he brought her meals, Emma's heart felt rusty as the wash of emotions flooded her chest. She caressed Henry's face again. Mason, she reminded herself. He went by Mason in this world.

"If anyone besides The Queen and her mother ever spoke to Astrid the way Peter speaks to Ruby, I'd make sure his corpse was never discovered," Horace vowed. Rage flashed in his usually placid hazel eyes, and Emma felt this pain in a moment.

"You should tell her, Horace. It's only a matter of time before shit blows up for Regina. Cora isn't going to let her get out of this unscathed. Just… just grab her face and kiss her and tell her that you're so in love with her that you can't even remember life before her, that nothing ever mattered until she made it matter. Tell her that you're sorry it took so long for you to get up your courage and then tell her that you're never going to waste another second hiding your feelings because even if you only had one beautiful second of pure happiness with her, then it makes everything worth it."

"Only if you make your proclamation to The Queen so that I may recover my heart. It is difficult to gift something that does not belong to you," Horace said sadly, staring into the black chasm.

"Yeah, right, like she'd ever believe me now," Emma reminded him of her royal fuck up.

"Stop creating excuses to run from something that scares you. Have you ever considered that The Queen's happy ending and The Savior's mission are one in the same? If she falls in love with you, her curse will break, both metaphorically and physically," Horace articulated the thoughts nearly everyone in Storybrooke feared to whisper alone in their houses, even The Savior and The Queen.

Of course, no one knew Emma was the prophesized hero of Snow White and Prince Charmings' loins except a few close servants of The Queen, but they all noticed the softness in those normally hardened caramel eyes when she glanced towards her pet.

Emma snorted and shook her head against the cold stone. "I'm lucky she hasn't killed me yet."

"Indeed," a cold voice called from the entrance of the hall. The two prisoners scrambled to their feet, and Emma passed the phone back to her guard.

"Regina," she started, an involuntary smile spreading on her lips.

"Not now, insect," Regina dismissed the greeting and flicked her wrist. Emma grabbed her throat as she tried to speak, but her voice refused to make a squeak against the sorceress' magic. In a huff, Emma crossed her arms and glared at the amused queen.

"Goodbye, Horace. Miss Swan no longer requires your company," Regina dismissed him with a bitchy tone and a malicious grin. She adjusted her head surrounded by an impossibly high and stiff collar with little spikes along the edge. The black material barely covered Regina's breasts where a strand of gems glistened and blazed a trail to her waist. Emma stared unabashedly. Regina was fucking gorgeous, and she was done denying it to herself.

When he disappeared around the corner, Regina flicked her wrist and the pressure on her vocal cords released as The Queen floated to the large chair and sat on the edge, spine ramrod straight. Emma turned her feet to keep the other woman in her direct line of sight but remained otherwise still and silent while she settled herself. When she finally pinned Emma with a cold stare, The Savior spoke.

"You look beautiful today, Regina," Emma complimented stupidly. "Well, you look beautiful everyday, but… Hi," she babbled self-consciously while The Queen simply stared with a blank expression.

Regina raised an eyebrow and tipped her chin, removing the magic containing bracelet from Emma's wrist. Power surged and tingled beneath her skin, and Emma breathed into the discomfort as it equalized. Every time she looked at Regina, it swelled and exploded anew, forcing her to start the process from square one several times. Eventually, she stopped looking at Regina and stared at the floor while The Queen observed her curiously.

"Where does your magic originate?" She asked. Her sultry rasp slid a single finger down Emma's spine, and The Savior shuddered.

"I'm not sure, but it's only ever really worked when you're around and that's sporadic at best," Emma answered honestly. She really wasn't sure what sparked her magic, though that question following Horace's blunt observation of her skirting around her feelings for Regina due to fear and insecurity made her wonder if she hadn't wanted to know all this time. She wanted to remain ignorant in order to protect herself.

"Your son has arrived," Regina tossed out as though she'd not just asked Emma the burning question that had bothered her since the night she attempted suicide off the cliff.

"Horace told me," Emma informed her mistress honestly. She'd not risk getting stuck in the web just for lying about Horace's little conversation. "Did you give him to Cora?"

Regina grinned savagely. "I've taken him for myself." A horse kicked Emma's gut, and she clung to the hope that Regina only tortured her psychologically. Regina wasn't Cora, but in her own way, she loved the darkness, the control. She'd hurt Henry, too, especially if she lost control.

"Come here, Savior," Regina ordered and moved the ottoman from the chair with a languid twist of her wrist, one thin finger extended.

Emma obeyed silently, unsure what Regina intended, but Henry's safety depended on her complete submission. Dark eyes flicked to the floor before her, and Emma knelt one knee at a time and raised to her full height which brought her eyes even with Regina's throat. Regina snapped her fingers and her knees spread as a typical riding outfit replaced the bulky dress. Emma moved forward on her knees until her stomach pressed into The Queen's crotch and her breasts into her stomach. Regina grinned lasciviously.

Fear gripped Emma's heart, and she swallowed it as best she could. She knew that look. She knew Regina. The Evil Queen had finally made her submit and knew she would because of her son. Her eyes pointed forward, concentrating on the hollow of Regina's tender throat. She barely flinched when the back of Regina's hand caressed her face.

"Take off your shirt," Regina commanded. Emma's chest jogged up and down with the effort of remaining docile, but she grabbed the hem with crossed arms and pulled it over her head. She spared a brief thought to the fact that she'd not showered in a week, but hygiene in The Enchanted Forest couldn't have been that great. Regina probably minded very little what she smelled like.

"Where does your magic originate?" She repeated. Emma continued to stare at the same patch of skin and shrugged.

Fingertips trailed down her chest and continued down her stomach. Gooseflesh erupted over Emma's arms, and her nipples tightened painful within the confines of her bra. Green eyes snapped shut, blocking out the image of Regina turning her body into a traitor of her mind. Knuckles brushed her belly as Regina unbuttoned her tight jeans, and then a warm palm rubbed her the ticklish skin just below her navel.

"Regina, I don't want this," Emma whispered and opened her eyes to find her vision blurred by tears. She blinked them away quickly and looked up into Regina's dark eyes.

Regina responded by slipping her fingers into Emma's bra and grazing a taut nipple. Emma exhaled harshly as the stimulation sent pulses of heat to the apex of her thighs. Regina chuckled, satisfied that Emma's body betrayed her words. Emma desired her sexually whether she admitted it or not.

"If you wish me to stop, use your magic. You teleported when you kissed me. Imagine what you could do if I did this," Regina urged and slipped her hand into Emma's jeans, cupping her through her cotton panties. Emma gasped several rapid breaths before adjusting to the sensation of Regina's hand holding gentle pressure where she most needed it.

"I c-can't. I don't know how it works. It just does sometimes," Emma tried again. Not a drop of magic stirred within her, and she feared Regina might actually have raped her only to prove that sexual energy failed to unlock the magic trapped within her skin.

Emma tipped her chin and locked eyes with the her mistress, truly understanding her position for the first time. Regina had been lenient up to that point, but if she wanted her, Emma possessed no way of actually stopping her, not while Regina held her with magic. She belonged to The Evil Queen.

"Regina, I swear to you. I don't know how it happens. I just get a feeling, and then it's there. Please, don't make me do this," she pleaded, hoping her bleary eyes and earnest demeanor touched The Queen's humanity once more.

Regina's lips pulled into a snarl, and she shoved Emma onto her back. "Perhaps the threat to your life triggered it. Instinct rather than an emotion," Regina reasoned, more to herself than Emma.

A fireball appeared in her hand and flew towards the stunned savior who just managed to roll out of it path by an inch or two. Emma scrambled to her feet and whirled towards Regina in time to duck another flaming ball of death flying towards her head. The Queen came to her feet for better aim when the second also missed its target. Emma's reflexes were faster than she anticipated.

"Save yourself, Savior," she taunted and flung two more fireballs. Emma stopped short as the first one flew in front of her stomach, heat singing the fine hair there and then throwing herself into a forward ukemi roll, barely tucking her arm enough to complete it safely.

"Regina, stop! What the hell is wrong with you? This isn't working!" She yelled when she came back to her feet from the roll's momentum and ducked another fireball.

Regina laughed maniacally, and rage tore through Emma's veins in the form of undiluted adrenaline. She ducked the next flame cloud and charged straight for the chuckling queen. With a last minute side step, Emma dodged Regina's last ditch attempt at slowing her down and slammed into Regina full force.

"I said stop, you crazy bitch!" Emma screamed at her and slammed her wrists above her head before Regina recovered her breath. Wrists secured beneath one hand, Emma drew back with the other, intending to knock Regina silly before she recovered from the mental and physical shock of being tackled by her usually forgiving pet.

Real fear flooded Regina's eyes with tears, not from the imminent punch but the feeling of being restrained. She sucked a shaking breath and tried to relax. In one split second, she forgot how powerful she was. She forgot to be angry at Emma. She forgot to be The Queen. She forgot to use her magic. She was just a traumatized woman staring up at a good person she'd pushed too far with soft, pleading eyes.

Emma faltered, her fist stopping mid-swing, and the tensed muscles in her face slowly fell as the anger in her tense muscles deflated. "Regina?"

She cupped the other woman's ashen cheek compassionately. Her Regina had come back to her. Perhaps it was the shock or the fact that Emma straddled her as she had done playfully the last time they saw one another, but she was back. The anger disappeared along with the bluster and bravado and faked savagery. Regina had never meant to hurt her, only to test her magic.

"Regina," she whispered again. Her body leaned forward before Emma even registered her intention to kiss the woman beneath her. A tingle of magic vibrated in the palm holding Regina's smooth cheek. "Regina, I lo…"

Regina jerked to life suddenly. With a tip of her chin, magic exploded from her body, and Emma went airborne. A wild, flailing scream echoed around the cavern. The dark rock wall came at her rapidly, and Emma threw her arms over her head to take the brunt of the impact. Her body collided with a thud and snap, and another squall covered the sound of Emma's arm breaking beneath the pressure of Regina's magical volley.

Another piece of stone rushed at her, and Emma hit the floor. Her body recoiled from the chilled rock pressing against the bare flesh of her back, but she was helpless to move as black danced on the edge of her vision and her ears roared. The last thing she remembered before passing out was Regina's heaving chest and wide terrified eyes staring at her from across the ledge.


	23. Genesis

Hello, My Sweets! Thank you so much for the reviews and the follows and favorites. You guys are awesome! Enjoy, Lovelies!

Song: True Colors by Celtic Woman

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><p>Ow.<p>

It was the first word Emma thought as she slowly returned to the land of the conscious. She pinched the bridge of her nose and winced. Her head felt like Mufasa's after the stampede, but nothing else ached, she noted curiously. Pain should have radiated from every region of her body after being slammed into the wall and falling 15 feet to the floor.

"You may be disoriented," Regina's raspy voice informed her.

Green eyes cracked and immediately slammed shut as the bright light of day invaded her enlarged pupils for the first time in nine days. Emma exhaled harshly and rolled away from the light. She noticed then that she lay on her plushy bed. She dared to slit her eyelids again and gaze up at her mistress.

"You brought the bed back," she deduced, not really sure what else what to think in her rattled brain.

"You're at the mansion," Regina corrected. "I healed your arm and bruises. Unfortunately, you'll simply have to suffer through your headache because I am not skilled enough to touch internal organs without risk of permanent deficits."

Emma opened her eyes fully and blinked slowly until the other woman appeared in a clear image. She had in fact awoken in her room at the mansion. When she gathered her arms beneath her to sit up, a warm hand on her bare waist halted the movement, applying enough pressure to persuade her to give her weight fully back to the firm mattress.

"Rest, Emma," Regina whispered and squeezed her waist lightly.

The Savior blinked up at the unpredictable queen, picking through the behavior slowly. Had Regina regretted her actions the past week or was she required to make another public appearance? Regina must have sensed her confusion because brushed a thumb over her ribs soothingly and crossed her legs, leather squeaking, like she meant to stay for an extended period.

"Astrid will wake you in a few hours for lunch," she informed her pet and watched Emma's face closely. If she hadn't just spent nine days in a dark pit by herself, Regina might have been concerned by Emma's desire to go to sleep. She figured exhaustion more than Emma's knock on the head led to the flutter and jerk of her eyelids as Emma fought sleep like a child.

"Henry," Emma murmured and forced her eyes open once more.

"Mason is meeting with his tutors at the moment," Regina put the poor woman out of her misery.

She loved her son so deeply that she'd been willing to submit to something a step above rape in order to protect him. It was beautiful and reminded Regina that Emma played more roles than her pet. She was a mother and a friend and a woman with strong values and the strength to stand up for them. And The Savior, a paranoid voice added in the back of her mind. Regina bowed her head against the overwhelming urge to send Emma back to the isolation room.

"Rest, Emma," she repeated in a strained voice before her thoughts consumed her. Emma finally nodded and closed her eyes, drifting off to the sensation of Regina's thumb stroking her ribs tenderly.

"Regina?" Emma whispered and winced, her face scrunching like her thoughts hurt more than her head.

"Hmm?" Regina hummed and used her free hand to brush tangled blonde hair from Emma's face. When The Savior flinched away from the touch, she jerked her hand away from her face and sucked one harsh shallow breath.

"Please don't put me back down there again, not for that long. I'll be good," Emma whispered, barely lucid enough to make the heartfelt plea. The words reflected those she'd uttered so often to her mother when she restrained her for misbehaving. A part of her felt disgust that she'd forced Emma to say them due to her actions.

Regina's heart tugged towards The Savior, and she slapped it against a wall in back of her chest. "Rest, Emma," she simply repeated. She leaned forward and pressed her lips to Emma's cool shoulder but pulled back immediately when her adrenaline spiked with fear. Again, she questioned exactly where the show of affection originated and how Emma Swan pulled it out of her so easily.

When Emma's breathing evened out, Regina removed her hand slowly and eased off the bed, intentionally directing her gaze to anything but the sleeping blonde. Graham waited just outside the door, and she nodded to her loyal guard as she touched his shoulder and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Confusion filled his face when they materialized in Ms. Ginger's shop. Women gasped and cowered, but Ms. Ginger tentatively rounded the counter with an anxious grin.

"Your Majesty, welcome back," she bowed her head respectfully and awaited her orders.

"Hello, Ms. Ginger, have you time for an appointment this morning?" Regina asked coolly, being intentionally cryptic.

"Of course we do, Majesty. Would you care for me to pick something for you?" The redhead gushed, thrilled to see The Queen in her shop again even if the absence of her pet made her nervous.

"That will not be necessary. She shall pick her own clothing when she arrives. I'll return in ten minutes. Please have your shop cleared of any other patrons," Regina ordered and then disappeared before the boutique owner responded. Graham shrugged apologetically to the skittish woman and began ushering other customers towards the door.

Regina appeared in the prison bathroom to find Belle wet and waiting for the guards to return her to her cell, just as she'd ordered before Emma woke. The librarian gasped and grabbed her chest, an elegant gesture that mismatched her drab brown prison frock. Belle was a princess, after all. Her ample chest jogged beneath her fingers in fear but she remained otherwise silent and unmoving. Regina studied her for several minutes, thinking, pondering, deciding. Conclusion reached, she waved her arm, and they both disappeared from the bathroom.

Graham and Ms. Ginger looked between the two women, confusion evident. Regina shoved the prisoner forward, and Belle stumbled two steps before righting herself. Regina straightened her spine and tugged at her riding jacket self-consciously. She loathed giving Belle a day of freedom before her release date, but she could think of no other way to apologize to Emma for harming her so severely.

"Pick an outfit, Miss French. Graham will escort you to the hospital to visit with Miss Lucas for the day. Ms. Ginger will apply the charges to my personal account," Regina ordered the woman she'd treated like an animal for the past 30 years.

Belle's eyes widened, mouth hanging open obnoxiously. "Why?" She breathed.

Regina adjust her shoulders and fixed a cold glare upon the insipid nymph that made her iron-eyed mentor soft. Without a response, Regina disappeared in a puff of violet, leaving three confused and wide-eyed subjects in her wake. The guards outside Ruby's room reacted much like everyone else when she materialized before them. They jumped, startled, and then pulled themselves straighter, more rigid. Regina smirked and breezed past them into Ruby's blissfully empty room.

"Morning, Majesty," Ruby greeted without opening her eyes or making much of an effort at all to move her neck to a formal head bow. The tiny rebellion irritated Regina, but she pushed it to the side.

"You know to whom you speak without opening your eyes yet you remain unmoved?" Regina queried and shut the door behind her.

"Smelled your shampoo," Ruby admitted with an ambiguous jostling of her shoulders that might have been a shrug.

Regina raised an eyebrow and clasped her hands in front of her hips. "How are you feeling?" She asked, clearly uncomfortable with the personal inquiry. The unexpected question inspired Ruby to crack one eye at a time, meeting Regina's unreadable gaze.

"Like a mob beat me unconscious, which required two surgeries to fix all the damage even with my wolf's healing and put me in a coma for a week," Ruby answered honestly with a slight edge to her voice. Despite The Queen's attentiveness, she wasn't completely convinced of Regina's innocence regarding the incident.

"Your repugnant attitude has returned. I trust you're well enough for visitors, then?" Regina observed, unmoved by the wolf's concealed jabs. Most everyone believed her guilty of Ruby's beating.

"Uhh, I guess. I'd really like to see Emma if I could. Anyone except Peter and Leroy would do at the moment," Ruby confided in a softer tone. Her energy levels had been depleted by the first forceful remark. She wanted a nap.

"Excellent. Good Morning, Miss Lucas," Regina bade her goodbye and disappeared for the fourth time in the last half an hour with no explanation as to why or where. Ruby rolled her eyes and relaxed into the bed.

She snapped her fingers when she arrived just outside the dining room of her mansion. Her riding suit tingled and then melted into the black skirt and red shirt that Emma chose for her that day at Ms. Ginger's to avoid confusing Mason by her outfit. Had it truly only been two weeks ago that Emma helped her feel confident and beautiful without being strung up in a corset? Ignoring the thought, she pushed into the door to find Cora and Mason staring at each other across the table. Cora looked as though she may rip the child's throat out with her teeth, and Mason's ashen face stood out starkly against the black of his band logo t-shirt.

"Good morning, Mother, Mason," Regina greeted and took her place at the head of the table.

"Regina, we really must speak in private after breakfast," Cora insisted without thinking to return the pleasant greeting. The boy crunched loudly into a piece of bacon and grinned like a cheeky monkey as he chewed with his mouth open. Regina thought her mother's face set to explode if anymore blood rushed there.

"Mother, this is an adjustment for everyone, Mason included," she began with a pointed look at the boy who clamped his mouth shut and dropped his gaze to his plate full of bacon and nothing else. He could get used to made-to-order meals.

Regina rolled her eyes and beckoned Greg with a crooked finger. "Coffee and a Queen's breakfast. Mister Swan will have one also with orange juice. Please return that 3,000 calorie monstrosity to the kitchen," she ordered and waved in the general direction of Emma's son who sulked at his foster mother's order.

"You'll receive more bacon with your second plate, Mason. Stop sulking. It's terribly boring," Regina snarked and leaned back in her chair to observe the boy from a predatory position. She harbored no patience for such childish behavior, and the boy seemed to respond to the no-nonsense approach rather than the heated anger yelling and seething of her mother.

The boy huffed and propped his elbows on the edge of the table to hold his face. Regina smirked at the very Emma posture. He was most certainly the son of the obdurate blonde upstairs. Regina waited until her coffee arrived and braced herself with a sip before continuing the conversation. Cora glared at her and mechanically brought food to her mouth, but Regina doubted that her mother actually tasted much of it.

"Mason, may I ask you a few questions?" She started slowly as though she might have approached Emma. The Savior withheld as much as she had. The thought struck Regina cold that she'd perhaps assaulted Emma simply for failing to express her emotions properly as she herself often did.

The boy shrugged. "You're going to ask anyway, so just get it over with." His face fell, and he set his jaw at the immaculate table setting. They always asked questions, and he always answered them honestly. And then they sent him back.

"Do you remember Emma, your mother?" Regina asked bluntly. The boy was no fool, nor had he deserved or desired coddling. He was tough and fragile at the same time, like his mother.

"A little," Mason said and sat back in the chair, crossing his arms. "I tried to tell them that it wasn't her who beat me that night. It was the man. To answer your next question," he added pointedly. Regina blinked rapidly, digesting the new information. Whether it rang true or was a fantasy of an abused boy, she hadn't a clue, but at least the anger towards Emma she anticipated never surfaced.

"Would you be amiable to meeting her again?" Regina queried in a deep, soulful voice. Cora stirred to her right, but Regina ignored her and focused on the angst-ridden teen.

He shrugged and played with the silver fork at his place setting, twisting it and then stabbing at the table. Regina rolled her eyes, imagining Emma doing exactly the same thing given the chance. When she believed her patience for the boy's silence ending, he finally sucked a deep breath.

"You didn't do your research, did you? My mom died a long time ago," he stated calmly without the slightest hint of emotion in his voice. Regina watched the grief dance in his eyes, though.

Greg's return with breakfast saved her from responding to the gut-wrenching admission. Regina nodded politely to the servant and Mason thanked him quietly without looking up from the table, which suddenly became a plate of food. He jabbed at a piece of pineapple and shoved it in his mouth, and Regina wondered briefly if he started with the healthier food in order to please her. She knew that feeling all too well, and something within her rebelled against the thought of any child behaving in such a manner to please her as she always had her own mother.

Without saying a word, she picked up the three strips of bacon on her plate with a dainty thumb and forefinger and placed them upon the boy's over the fruit salad. Mason's head jerked up suddenly at the small act of kindness and inadvertent permission to munch away at his obviously preferred breakfast food. Regina pinched her fingers on her napkin to remove the grease and raised her coffee to her mouth. When she winked lightly over the cup, a bright smile spread on the boy's face, and he crunched into a piece of pig meat noisily without breaking eye contact.

Regina hid a smile caused by the flutter in her chest behind the guise of taking a very long swig of lukewarm coffee. Was that what being a mother felt like?


	24. Vacillation

Hello again, My Lovelies! I come with prezzies for you. A huge thank to everyone who has reviewed, followed, and favorited the story and me. You're all awesome and have made writing this a blast.

Warning: Might be triggering for sexual assault.

And with that menacing admission, please enjoy and let me know what you think!

Song: Song of the Caged Bird by Lindsey Stirling

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><p>"Emma," Regina called softly from the door of her pet's bedroom. The blonde's shoulders shook lightly and her ribs expanded and contracted rapidly, but no sound met her ears from the woman facing the wall. Regina's brow furrowed as she stepped into the room and closed the door inaudibly.<p>

"Emma, Astrid has informed me that you are refusing to bathe and dress. Care to explain yourself?" Regina clipped sternly, crossing her arms over the beautiful red blouse that she secretly loved all the more because Emma chose it.

"It doesn't matter what I say. You're just going to think I'm lying and scheming against you," the coarse voice of The Savior responded. She sniffed and her shoulder moved as she touched her face. It dawned on Regina then that the woman had been crying. Icy fingers of guilt wiggled in her stomach.

Without thinking too hard on her actions, she crossed quickly to the bed and slid into it behind Emma as The Savior had done when she'd hidden beneath the blanket. It was the day Emma selected the clothes she now wore. Regina tried not to think of what significance that fact might have indicated and inched closer to the distraught woman until her front molded to Emma's back.

She held her weight on an elbow and forearm and touched Emma's waist gingerly. Teeth worried her lower lip as she searched for the words to rectify her mess. "Emma, I may have…overreacted when you suggested Mother had no heart."

Emma snorted. "Ya think?"

Regina huffed in frustration, more at her own helplessness than Emma's attitude. She refused to apologize to her pet for punishing her as she saw fit. Anger rushed up from nowhere, and she pressed it down as patiently as Regina Mills could. Rejecting the idea of speaking completely, she bent one arm beneath her head and secured the other around Emma. Her hand splayed over a toned stomach.

"You left me in that hole for a week with no one to talk to but your fucking dragon. You flung me across the room for no reason. I wasn't going to hurt you, and you knew it. You sexually assaulted me, Regina," Emma accused harshly, shrugging The Queen's arm from her waist and scooting away, too tired and emotional to even sit up.

"I did no such thing," Regina defended herself and sat up. The anger she'd locked away the moment she entered the room burst free of its loose restraints.

"I told you no, and you touched me anyway, that is the textbook definition of sexual assault," Emma explained her perspective with a hardened edge in her voice that Regina had never heard directed towards her before.

"I hardly touched you, you insipid whelp, quit sniveling," Regina insisted nonchalantly and straightened her shirt.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Emma yelled and rolled onto her back to glare at her mistress. "You really don't see me as anything more than an object, do you?" The words slipped out before Emma registered them in her mind, and she took the blow to her gut about as well as she'd taken a rock wall to the face. It knocked the breath from her.

Fresh anger swelled anew in Regina's heart. She'd planned such a wonderful surprise for Emma when she took her to see Ruby. Belle's presence would have meant so much to Emma, but The Savior practically spit in her face. On top of that, she intended to allow Emma to see her son when they returned. If she insisted on whining about like a child, Regina decided to give her a reason.

"Have you ever been raped, Miss Swan?" She asked suddenly.

"No," Emma answered hesitantly, unsure of Regina's intentions.

Regina clicked her tongue and flicked her wrist faster than Emma blinked. Her hands slammed into the mattress beside her head, secured by magic. Panic swelled in Emma's chest, sending her heart into a frantic sprint. She jerked against the invisible bonds as her body began shaking with visible fear.

"Regina, stop," she whispered.

"That's usually the first words out of a victim's mouth," Regina turned her words into a lesson. She wiggled her fingers, and the button on Emma's pants popped open and the dirty denim slid down Emma's hips slowly.

"Regina, I don't want this. Please," Emma begged and yanked her arms painfully. Her pants stopped just below her knees. Regina grinned savagely, the beautiful light in her eyes replaced with something wicked, a culmination of all the horrible things that had been done to her during her life.

"Begging follows the command to stop," Regina explained and straddled her, hovering over Emma on her hands and knees. Clawed fingers grasped her chin, turning her head to the side as cherry red lips nipped and sucked at her neck.

"Regina, please. I'm sorry. I'll be good. Please. I'm sorry," Emma repeated over and over, squeezing her eyes against the sight of the woman she loved wearing such a hideous mask. Her wrists and shoulders strained against the magical restraints, but Emma knew it was useless. Regina let her go when she wished. She belonged to The Evil Queen.

Fingertips touched her throat, and tears seeped from beneath her eyelids. They slid to her chest, pausing between her breasts. "Tears usually come when you realize that you are completely helpless," Regina continued, hooking the thin strip of fabric that connected Emma's plain white bra in the front. With a jerk and tingle of magic, it ripped in two.

"Please stop," Emma whispered in a wet, broken voice. The lips followed Regina's solitary finger. She paused between Emma's breasts and hummed into the sensation of being surrounded by The Savior's skin.

Regina's fingers continued down her stomach rather than expose her breasts completely. "Eventually, you stop struggling," she noted Emma's still hands and defeated demeanor. She'd accepted her fate and searched for a way to cope.

One finger slid beneath the elastic of Emma's panties, and The Savior turned her head as though the gesture might have saved her. It mattered very little what she said, so she turned her energy inwards, searching for a way to emerge on the other side of this without hating Regina. Deep, ragged breaths moved her chest as she attempted to control the panic and disgust.

"Your mind dissociates, takes you to far off places where you can cocoon within emotions of happier times. Or in some cases, plots and fantasies of revenge," The Queen stated pointedly, explaining the thought process occurring in bold savior. Emma tucked it away sadly for later analysis, and focused her energy towards ignoring the sensation of Regina's lips wrapped around her traitorously hardened nipple. She'd heard that happened to women, that some of them even reached orgasm while being raped despite loathing every single touch and sensation in their bodies. Not only were they violated by their attackers but their own bodies betrayed them.

Regina chuckled, reading Emma's thoughts. The Savior's body consented even if her mind refused. It was the most confusing experience of a woman's life, to physical enjoy and respond to something that desecrated her mind on every possible level. She'd felt it with Rumpelstiltskin every single time he'd touched her. In a twisted way, she desired him, and no matter how many ways or times he violated her, her body always responded against her heart's wishes. She made note of Emma's quaking body, her quiet acceptance of what she believed about to occur, and pushed thru to her next statement.

"And then you stop begging, which leads your attacker to believe you've submitted and perhaps might even enjoy the violation upon not only your body but also your mind, your will." She snapped the elastic against Emma's belly and grinned when The Savior flinched and whimpered.

Emma opened her eyes and met Regina's dark gaze as she absorbed all of the new information being thrown at her. Defiance blazed where Regina expected defeat, submission. Her pulsed spiked, forcing the emotion vein on her forehead to throb with the rising blood pressure. Emma was about to do something unexpected, and a part of her eagerly anticipated The Savior's next move.

"I'm sorry, Regina," she apologized sincerely. "I'm sorry that I couldn't save you from my grandfather and Rumpelstiltskin. I'm sorry that you ever had to feel this way, and I'm sorry that you think making me feel that way is the only way to keep power over me. I'm sorry that I couldn't save you before everyone in your life destroyed you."

Regina's mouth dropped open as a tiny gasp filled the air between them. Emma breathed heavily and watched the impact of her words upon the broken queen. She meant every single one of them, and if Regina raped her to prove a point, she knew she'd find a way to forgive her, somehow… in the distant future, though it probably meant she'd never love her again. Saving Regina's soul was far more important to Emma than making her fall in love. It's the reason she hadn't yet ripped The Queen's clothes from her body and pushed her into the chasm of ecstasy.

The tense stare stretched until Emma fought the urge to squirm under Regina's unreadable gaze. She either saved herself or made everything worse by reading too far into Regina's scary speech. She'd basically just simulated rape, but Emma felt unsure if she'd done it to make her understand that what happened in the isolation room was far from what Emma accused her mistress of or if Regina wanted to plant terror before committing the act. She'd built the entire foundation of their new relationship on the claim that she never forced women into sex. The thought stripped Emma's fear and replaced it with determination.

"It doesn't matter what you do to me, Regina. I'll find a way to forgive you because that's who I am. Even if I didn't care about you, bringing everyone their happy ending has become my purpose for living, and that includes you." Emma paused and allowed those words to sink into Regina's rage-addled brain, shocked to find belief eclipse wrath in those beautifully dark eyes. Emma pushed forward, encouraged by the subtle reaction.

"I'll never leave you, Regina," she whispered. She'd meant to say that she loved her, but her mouth rebelled at the last possible second.

It'd been the right decision because Regina's fear of abandonment ran much deeper than her fear of being unloved. It was the reason she allowed Cora back into her heart over and over despite the obvious fact that Cora hadn't possessed the ability to love in a very long time. Regina feared being alone, and now Emma knew it because of the new fear of being known dancing in on The Queen's face.

Regina pushed off the bed suddenly, unable to process the different emotions flying through her heart. She waved a hand over her shoulder, releasing Emma's bonds as she stomped towards the door. "Bathe and dress immediately," she barked a moment before the door slammed, shaking the walls.

Emma closed her eyes and released a ragged breath. She jumped when an hysterical laughter filled the room, surprised to recognize it as her own. One hand fell to the bed at her side and the other scrubbed her face in disbelief. Somehow, against all odds, she'd not only saved herself from something horrific but broke through another emotional barrier Regina had erected around her heart. That hadn't been The Queen that stomped out of her room, it was Regina. Just Regina.

With renewed confidence, Emma rolled to the edge of the bed and sat her feet on the floor. She showered quickly, forcing herself to step away from the hot, pressurized spray. She thought about letting the hot pulses from the adjustable shower head beat against her until her muscles went numb from the exposure but ultimately decided against it. Regina fell against the emotional ropes once more, and the upper hand she'd given Emma by the twisted display of dominance shocked both of them. It churned Emma's stomach.

She'd always suspected that the original Regina had been subjected to sexual torture by Rumpelstiltskin at the very least, but she'd never considered The King in the same light until Regina tied her down and spoke of helplessness and lack of power. Anger rose up again when she thought of all the ways Regina had been victimized to further the agenda of those more powerful than her.

No wonder she flipped shit and cursed an entire population.


	25. Just Regina

Due to the response of the last chapter in reviews and PM's, I felt it was a responsibility to say something, as a woman and as a female sexual freedom advocate. Unfortunately, the body and mind are not always congruent in response to stimulation. There are some fantastic resources and informational websites out there if you are interested in expanding your understanding of the fairly common occurrence of physical arousal during assault. Google "Pandora's Project + sexual arousal & sexual assault." It can get your feet wet while leading to other fantastic resource sites.

Not only will this provide better understanding of Emma's response but also Regina's need for sexual dominance. Unfortunately, extreme feelings of guilt and shame, especially in cases of repeated rape, often causes the survivor to relive those fantasies during self-pleasuring and even to recreate the scenario with partners in order to alleviate those negative feelings associated with sexual arousal.

I'm thrilled to have had the opportunity to say all of this, and if I've helped even one person be more aware or feel less alone while struggling with their own survivor-hood, then this story really means something. I promise, I don't just throw these things in to be sick or for shock value. Everything has a deeper meaning, and sometimes you have to go to the dark places in order to find it.

That said, I shall step off my soapbox and get to the good stuff! As always, bless you for the reviews and follows! Unfortunately, I may miss my daily installments for a few days depending on my mental state and free time. My granddaddy is having a triple bypass tomorrow, so imagine your own personal hero asking you to make the decision to put him under the knife for open heart surgery. It's the hardest decision I've ever made.

Song: True Colors by Cyndi Lauper (aka the one Emma would listen to as opposed to Regina), The Woman with You by Kenny Chesney

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><p>"Emma!" Astrid squealed when she emerged from the bathroom. The fairy's thin frame slammed into her, and Emma smiled despite her dark thoughts of Regina's life.<p>

"Hey Astrid," she greeted with genuine joy.

"You really are The Savior, aren't you? No one else keeps coming back from that awful place," she gushed as she released Emma from the tight embrace and flitted across the room.

"I picked you an outfit, and I also brought your packages up. They're on the bed."

"Astrid, I'm not wearing that," Emma dismissed the pants suit Astrid held up and focused on the packages on the bed. "Grab me some jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt and my black boots."

Astrid followed her instruction while Emma tore into the boxes which had one slit cut into the tape across the top flaps. Astrid's doing, no doubt, since she probably wasn't allowed to have sharp instruments. Of course, what she searched for had to be the last one she picked up, and Emma rolled her eyes. The beautiful sight, however, erased the slight irritation and she pressed the familiar object to her nose and inhaled deeply. She chuckled self-consciously when Astrid's brow furrowed in confused amusement.

"It's nice to have something familiar," Emma explained with a shrug and tossed her wet towel onto the bed before donning each piece of clothing Astrid gave her.

"The Queen will loathe it," Astrid predicted, and Emma smirked to herself as she buttoned her indigo skinny jeans and then slipped into her socks and boots.

"That's the plan," Emma confided with a wink and accepted the shirt her maid held up to her. She felt silly for accepting assistance to dress, but Astrid seemed happy to do it and Emma wanted her to feel useful.

"Astrid," Emma said in a suddenly serious tone, and the maid froze with a hair brush hovering between them, her intention of taking after Emma's tangled hair forgotten. "What have I missed?"

"You know that Mason arrived two days ago?" Emma nodded. "He's a sweet boy. He told me that I was too pretty to be a maid," Astrid shared the anecdote with a timid blush and hesitant smile. Emma smiled at the reaction, knowing that Horace's confession would leave the other woman completely star struck. He had nothing to worry about.

"Has Regina…" Emma sighed deeply, unsure she wanted to know the answer to her unasked question. "Is he okay?" Astrid studied the fear in Emma's shimmering green eyes, and her face softened with understanding.

"The Queen has done nothing to harm him, Emma, if that is what you are asking," Astrid put her out of her misery with a kind smile. "In fact, I think she has done nothing but dote on him. Cora is not pleased with the arrangement."

Emma's shoulders pulled forward as the tension leaked from her body. She fell into Astrid for an emotional hug, which the former fairy returned immediately. It was easy and simple and the way hugs should have always been. Despite 30 years of close service to The Queen, Astrid retained her humanity, her love and compassion. It gave Emma hope, and her face burrowed into the thin shoulder of the younger woman. Astrid shushed her quietly as tears followed. The Savior may have reached the end of her emotional rope in that horrible hole.

"I'm okay," she assured the maid but held her forehead to her shoulder for another moment. "I'm okay," she repeated with more conviction and raised her head slowly.

"Thank you, Astrid." The words felt much deeper than the superficial gratitude of allowing Emma a moment to break down. The maid nodded an acknowledgement but refrained from asking The Savior for what reason she specifically she thanked her. Any service to The Savior was one she happily provided.

Regina chose that moment to open the door to the balcony. "Are you ready?" She sniped and crossed her arms over that same red shirt now covered with the leather jacket Emma picked out for her.

"Just need my jacket," Emma answered, unbelievably happy that a sliver of her Regina had returned. Tortured, guilt-ridden, defensively volatile, beautifully free of the ugly mask of The Evil Queen.

Astrid held up the article in question, and Emma slid into it with a smirk. Regina raised a eyebrow and studied Emma's choice of clothes. "Honestly, Miss Swan, what statement are you making with that monstrosity?"

"Red leather looks damn good on me?" Emma volleyed with a lightness neither woman expected. At least Regina still hated her red leather jacket.

"Had I known you intended to order such insulting objects, I'd have spelled my credit card to destroy your laptop immediately," Regina sniped and stalked towards the stairs in her sexy boots. Emma smiled and sucked a deep, rejuvenating breath. Regina was still in there.

"Good luck," Astrid whispered and pushed her towards the door before Regina filleted them both.

"Thanks. Keep an eye on Hen… Mason for me," she begged and glanced over her shoulder in time to see Astrid nod seriously.

Regina glared up the stairs with crossed arms by the time Emma caught up with her. Horace stood sheepishly behind her with lowered eyes. Graham's absence was a neon light of caution. Emma looked around for him as she descended the stairs but saw no trace of him. Impatiently, Regina grabbed her arm before she ever reached the foyer and teleported immediately before Emma questioned Graham's whereabouts.

They arrived in the hospital just outside Ruby's room and apparently in the midst of World War Three. Graham scratched the back of his head as another crash thudded against the wall of the room. Belle hugged her arms tighter around her stomach and collapsed in on herself with a bowed head and painfully closed eyes.

"Belle!" Emma exclaimed, and the other woman's head jerked up in fear and shock. Their reunion was cut short by Regina's angry voice.

"Graham, what the hell is happening in my hospital?" The underlying threat in her tone registered without any white noise to scramble the signal.

"Goddamn it, Peter! Why do you always do this?" Ruby's angry voice interrupted his response. "She's a friend, and she is going to be my responsibility in 12 days. You're going to have to get used to her being around me."

"Around you!" Peter's angry voice responded hotly. "She was in bed with you. You are my wife, Red!"

"And I have never dishonored our vows," Ruby countered the argument venomously. "In 35 years, Peter, I have never once betrayed you."

"Yes, you have! The fact that you pretend differently makes it worst," he seethed. "I know you think about her when I'm making love to you. How do you think that makes me feel?" His voice rose again with his heightened emotions. "Ten years, since we started remembering our time here. You have loved her for ten fucking years, and I'm just supposed to be okay with everything the fucking queen orders? She's using you. She's using Belle to get what she wants."

"So what? Things are getting better. The Queen is finally starting to realize the mess she's made of everything. We can't survive in this goddamn bubble without help, and she's giving it to us. Get off this stupid fucking rebel kick before you get your stupid self killed," Ruby ordered.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you? Released from the chains of our marriage. I told you not to get involved. You would have died if not for you wolf. Don't you get that?" Peter returned angrily. Emma thought for a moment that it might have been born in fear for her safety and their marriage.

"I am your husband. You are supposed to obey me!" He screamed. She was wrong.

A solid thump of flesh hitting flesh followed, and Emma sprang into action. The door banged against the wall, and she felt the tingle of Regina's magic on her back. Apparently, they'd had the same idea simultaneously, and Emma prayed that Regina felt charitable or Peter might end up a crispy mess before the day ended. Ruby jumped at the sudden invasion and grabbed her side. Peter glared up at them from the floor, holding a hand to his eye socket that wept a slow trickle of blood.

"I suggest you leave before I order your execution for attacking one under The Queen's protection," Regina threatened, and Emma actually believed this one. Regina had an odd connection to the Lucas women that Emma had yet to decipher. "Miss Lucas, if you wish it, I'll declare your marriage void with a Royal Decree immediately."

Ruby stared up at her with wide eyes and parted lips that panted shallow, painful breaths. Her eyes slid from Regina's to her husband of 35 years and then to something over Regina's shoulder. Everyone looking at the wolf knew she looked at Belle, even as she spoke to Regina.

"And if I do? What ramifications come with it? The royal family never offers anything for free," Ruby asked, twitching her face as though she fought some sort of hope she wished to dismiss before it destroyed her soul.

"You shall be considered favorited by the royal family and will be treated as such," Regina answered honestly, and Ruby's face fell dramatically and her eyes jerked abruptly from the light blue of the one she obviously wanted.

"I decline your offer graciously, Majesty," she said painfully, clearly fighting tears. Her eyes remained glued to the wall to her right. "I cannot be a voice for the people if I am no longer of the people."

"Red," Peter whispered from the floor. "Is that the only reason you said no?"

"Get out, Peter," Ruby whispered right back, closing her eyes against the swell of pain in her heart.

Belle rushed in before the man picked himself off the floor and cupped Ruby's face tenderly in both hands, pressing their foreheads together. "It's okay," she whispered, and Emma's heart scattered across the floor.

"I'm sorry, Belle," Ruby apologized with a hollow voice indicative of hard tears and explosive emotions threatening to spew over the brim of her carefully constructed battlements keeping everything in check.

"It's okay," she repeated. "I had no idea you felt that way. I'm not going anywhere, Ruby. Being your friend will be enough," she promised and petted the wolf's soft brown hair and held the back of her neck without ever parting their foreheads. "It's…" Belle's voice broke and she swallowed the burn of tears in her own throat. "It's enough, Ruby. The people need you, and I won't stand in the way of that."

Peter leapt from the floor with an outraged cry and charged towards the bed. Ruby twisted immediately, covering Belle's body with her own, but the expected blow of another body slamming into hers never came. She glanced up without releasing her protective embrace on the smaller woman to find Regina's lip pulled into a sneer and her hand stretched towards the insanely angry man. With a wave, the energy popped and then equalized after a few moments.

"Thank you," Ruby breathed when she glanced behind her to find an empty room.

Regina acknowledged the gratitude with a nod, but an entirely different emotion eclipsed her eyes. "A night in prison will calm him," The Queen reasoned and adjusted her immaculately presented outfit. It was a comforting gesture, Emma noted.

Regina pulled on her magic once more when a soft hand touched her shoulder. Compassionate green eyes asked without words what about the entire incident bothered her. Regina dipped her shoulder, pulling from affectionate touch as she turned to face Emma. Horror shone brightly in those soulful caramel eyes, and Emma's fingers ached to take the woman in her arms but restrained the urge out of fear of repeating the near-rape experience Regina gave her not two hours ago.

"Please accept an afternoon with your friends as contrition for my behavior the past week," Regina barely managed around the twitch in her face. It was the best apology that Regina was capable of, and it said everything. She still wanted Emma happy and loyal.

"You let Belle go for a day for me?" Emma asked stupidly, the gesture melting the core of anger and betrayal Regina hardened with her earlier display of dominance.

Rather than respond verbally, Regina slapped both hands on Emma's cheeks, fingers punching almost painfully into her ears. The kiss caught Emma off guard, but she accepted it greedily. Strong arms wrapped around The Queen's hips and back, fingers splayed between her shoulder blades, and pulled their bodies flush. Emma spared a thought to how easily she distinguished the actions of The Evil Queen from Regina's. The Evil Queen simulated what rape felt like, but Regina arranged a very sweet gesture of apology and now kissed her silly. Just Regina.

They were two completely separate people, and when Regina's tongue tickled her lower lip, probing for permission, Emma opened her mouth willingly. When desperate hands buried in her hair, the heat contrasting acutely with the coolness of the damp locks, any thought of betraying the original Regina fell away. She was never going home, and the thought allowed Emma let go of her old life and slide her tongue over The Queen's, dueling for dominance of her own mouth. Of course, Regina possessed her completely, and Emma wanted her to give all of herself to this Regina.

She ended the passionate kiss with a nip to Emma's lower lip but remained within the embrace with her arms around The Savior's neck. Emma bumped her forehead to the shorter woman's and breathed heavily, unsure what the hell just happened. Regina clamped her eyes shut, and Emma felt a tremor quake the body pressed against her. Fear, she thought immediately. Regina was scared by the intimacy of the moment.

"It's okay," she whispered to The Queen, her voice barely audible through her own urge to run from the vulnerable moment.

"It's okay," Regina repeated and opened her eyes, pulling back to study the sincerity in Emma's eyes.

"It's okay," Emma repeated, a deeper meaning underlying the words. Regina had apologized, and Emma had forgiven as best she could.

"I'm not proud of the line I crossed this morning," Regina broke the chain of nonsensical mutterings only they understood. "I'm not very good at being human," she took the repentance one step further, and Emma melted.

With a tight grip secured around Regina's waist, she moved the other hand to that addictive black hair, smoothing it and then mussing it again only to repeat the process. "You're learning," The Savior murmured. "It can't happen again. That was... Regina, I can't forgive that again."

"It won't," Regina promised immediately. "I… Emma, I'm…" Fear and pride flooded Regina's eyes, and gentle fingers in her hair soothed the anxiety once more.

"I know," The Savior put her out of the misery of swallowing her pride and apologizing outright. "I meant everything I said, Regina. I'll never leave you, not unless you want me to."

"You don't have a choice," Regina reminded her bitterly. Emma chuckled and pulled her in for another more chaste kiss with a firm hand on the back of her head.

When she pulled back, she said something that neither of them expected, "Yes, I do. I told you before, I'm exactly where I want to be when I'm with you no matter what kind of insane test you put me thru." Emma's own breathing and heart rate picked up with the stakes of the confession. The last time she'd said that, Regina immediately reminded her that she cared nothing about what Emma wanted. Magic tingled in her hands, and Emma scrambled to pull it back before she scared the crap out of Regina again. Guess she was in the right place to be flung against a wall this time.

Regina sucked an audible breath through her nose. Her eyes widened, telling Emma she felt the sensation of magic upon her waist and scalp. Instead of lashing out again, she tipped her chin and caught Emma's lips for a third time. The magic grew and pulsed tendrils of the same feeling she experienced when they teleported the night Regina flung them off the cliff. Regina lost herself in the overwhelming sensation of Emma's Light Magic and tantalizingly toned body holding her tightly.

The other two women in the room and the guards outside watched the tender interaction with gaping jaws and wide eyes. They knew they shouldn't have stared lest The Queen catch them and fry them all, but how could they not? Regina Badass Bitch from Hell Mills actually swooned into the mysterious blonde woman who supposedly fell through a portal. A girlish hand held a bicep covered in dark red leather, and had it been a movie, her foot might have popped at the peak of the kiss' crescendo.

Again, Regina broke the kiss first, panting with emotion and lack of oxygen, and Emma grinned down at her with glazed eyes softened with an emotion that looked a lot like love. Regina cleared her throat and dropped her gaze nervously, which Emma met with a lingering kiss on The Queen's forehead.

"I must go," Regina rasped, her voice strained with unreadable emotions. "I'll return to collect you for dinner."

"I wish you'd stay," Emma blurted without thinking. A faint blush touched Regina's face at the sentiment.

"I have a kingdom to run, Miss Swan," she clipped in irritation, but when she met Emma's eyes again, The Savior saw the yearning in those caramel eyes.

A tingle of magic tickled the back of Emma's neck, and she secured both arms around Regina's waist when the shorter woman tried to pull back. She rolled her eyes and presented the magic-restricting cuff between their chests. Emma readjusted her grip, not giving Regina an easy way out of her strong hold and presented the arm without the leather bracelet. Regina huffed an irritated sigh and attached the magic inhibitor.

"If you wish to sleep in a bed tonight, you'll not leave this room. Horace and Graham will remain outside all day if you require anything," Regina warned, and Emma believed her. This moment changed nothing. If she misbehaved, she harbored no delusions that she'd be spared punishment. Regina had informed her at the start that she'd be punished as Regina would have expected to be punished for overstepping her boundaries.

"Not a toe shall cross that threshold," Emma assured her mistress.

Regina nodded satisfactorily. "That jacket truly is hideous," she grumbled and then disappeared, leaving Emma to stumble backwards as the body of weight she pulled against her transformed into purple smoke.

Finally, Emma glanced around to find stiffly lowered heads and red faces sneaking pointed looks in her direction. Emma wiped at the red lipstick surely marking her face self-consciously and tried her best to ignore the burning of her face and ears. Holy shit, she'd actually fallen for Regina if they went all goofy in front of six other people in broad daylight in the most public place in Storybrooke besides Granny's. She decided to ride the high as long as it lasted because with Regina's temper and her mouth, there was no doubt she'd fuck it up eventually.

Ruby broke the tension with an obnoxious bark of laughter, and Emma's gaze shot towards the rowdy wolf with angry eyes. Ruby grinned like a fool and pulled Belle just a little tighter against her side. The prisoner tucked her head tighter into Ruby's neck and slid a hand over her hip, intentionally averting her gaze, but a faint smile dared to grace her lips. Emma rolled her eyes and dropped into the chair beside the bed on the opposite side from Belle.

Ruby fixed her with mischievous eyes, and Emma shook her head, knowing that something completely inappropriate and childish set to come from the wolf's mouth.

"I can't believe you pussy-whipped Queen Hissy Fit in less than a month."

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><p><strong>Also, I might puke from all the fluff I just threw at you.<strong>


	26. Desire

Hello again, Lovelies! A prezzie for you! Thank you so much for the reviews and the follows! Enjoy!

Song: I'm not an Angel by Halestorm

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><p>Emma took dinner in her room that night. No amount of begging convinced her mistress to allow her to meet her son, and the one time she decided to disobey that rule, a barrier similar to the one in the isolation room knocked her on her ass. It had to be linked to one of the bracelets she wore, but neither were removable without Regina's assistance. It frustrated Emma to the point of no appetite that her son walked about the house, mere feet from her, but she was unable to see him and hold him.<p>

Astrid kept her well-informed, however. Mason apparently bonded very quickly with Regina, much to Cora's chagrin, and the elder Mills, unsurprisingly, loathed the young teenager. He'd been in ten different foster homes in the past nine years and hoarded food in his napkin when he thought no one watched. Emma knew the feeling well, and the forced separation tore at her harder.

So hard in fact that when Regina visited her to say goodnight, Emma never once bothered to look up from her uneaten dinner. The Queen crossed to the desk with deliberate, calculated steps and touched her head just above her ears with soft fingertips. Emma flinched and shrugged from the affectionate gesture, fighting tears she was certain Regina saw if she glanced just once at her face.

"I'm not being cruel. He believes you are dead, Emma," Regina said quietly. When she touched Emma's hair again, The Savior allowed it. She might have even leaned into it, or it may have been a trick of Regina's mind.

"I understand you are upset with me at the moment for the extended separation, but the boy has endured quite a bit. I only wanted to acclimate him to his life here before informing him of your presence," she purported in that same quiet voice. Reverent, Emma realized suddenly. Regina cared for Henry and tried to spare him a truth he wasn't ready for yet. Even if she failed to recognize the softer emotions for what they were, Regina cared.

Emma sniffed and nodded. Logically she understood, but as a mother, a part of her didn't care. "I miss him."

"I can see why. He's a lovely child. Not without his challenges, mind you, but he can be trained," Regina praised their son, and Emma chuckled.

"He's not a dog, Regina. Teach not train. You mean that he can be taught, that he can be helped," Emma supplied the proper words. Regina's eyes narrowed at the obstinate blonde, but after a few moments she nodded her agreement of Emma's choice of words. The Savior gave her a grin in return that slowly faded as another thought crossed her impulsive mind.

"I asked Belle about the time spell she saw in Rumpel's library. She vaguely remembers something about the person who came through the portal having the ability to reopen it until he or she arrives back in right timeline," Emma said just as quietly as Regina informed her of her intentions with Mason.

A reticence overcame them. A shyness neither expected after their very public make out session at the hospital. It was the first time Emma ever mentioned leaving this timeline as anything more than a theory, and it struck Regina harder than expected. Emma touched Regina's hip as she reached between her knees and turned the wooden chair to face her mistress. The Queen pushed loving fingers through tangled blonde hair, and her pet's eyes slipped shut at the affection, emotions swelling and breaking across her expressive face.

"Come with me," Regina bade softly. Emma nodded without hesitation, taking the proffered hand and tangling her fingers between The Queen's.

Regina pulled her easily over the threshold of her room, but Emma winced anyway, expecting to be thrown onto the floor again by an invisible magic blast. The older woma led her across the balcony and stopped in front of the door of the room she declared as Mason's. At Emma's confused and tearful gaze, Regina touched her face and caught the droplets as they fell.

"He's asleep," she whispered, barely filling the space between them. Emma nodded, taking the subtle hint to be quiet.

With a trembling hand, she opened turned the knob and braced herself with a shaky breath before cracking it open. A dim night light illuminated patterns of the stars on the ceiling, constellations, and Emma smiled at the boy slumbering peacefully. His hair was longer and lines of stress etched into his face, far too many for his young age, but he remained physically identical. A hand covered her mouth just before a sob tore free, but she barely recognized it as her own. He was there. He was actually there.

When Emma bowed her head and sobbed freely, Regina closed the door and took her free hand once more, leading her from the boy's room to have a proper breakdown. She understood some of what Emma felt, but nothing could have prepared her for the rush of her own emotions. Anger and regret and pain and yearning and love. Cora had never cried at the sight of her, had never fought so hard to make her life less painful. Better, perhaps, but she'd always worked through the pain on her own.

"Thank you," Emma whispered and squeezed Regina's hand just a little tighter. She leaned against the wall heavily, the gravity of her situation too powerful to resist any longer.

"You're welcome," Regina returned compassionately. What the hell had gotten into her unusually docile mistress that day? After she molested her, of course.

"Regina," she rasped and touched the woman's hip again, pulling her closer. That familiar swell of love warmed her chest, and Emma gave herself to it completely.

The Queen clearly sensed the change in her savior because she pressed her hips into Emma's, combining their heat as she pinned the blonde to wall just outside her room. Green eyes glazed with desire. Emma wanted her.

The first kiss was tentative, almost shy. It grew in velocity when firm fingers wrapped around Regina's hips and jerked them hard against the ones beneath her. The muted thump of their bodies meeting inspired a moan in the back of Regina's throat, and Emma met both with a demanding thrust of her tongue into Regina's mouth. The Queen teased with light teeth around the hot muscle and sucked lightly.

Emma gasped from the completely new sensation of heated suction against her tongue. Her mental function shut down slowly as tension built in her belly. Desperate hands jerked at the shirt tightly tucked into Regina's black skirt but gave up when they trembled too violently to complete the task. Regina moaned openly when they slid over her ass and pulled her tighter against The Savior, maintaining a tight pressure. A brief flicker of brain function nagged at Emma to obtain oral consent before continuing.

The thought died when Regina's palms covered her breasts. Her head thumped against the wall, breaking the kiss and scraping her tongue between Regina's teeth. Her body arched into The Queen's hands, and she squeezed the globes in her own tighter, harder, alleviating the adrenaline surging in her veins. Regina put her mouth to better use and took to her exposed neck with a primal need that only made Emma moan loudly and grind their hips together.

"Bed," she croaked, and Regina's fingers wrapped around the shoulder straps of her white tank top. Fabric creaked and groaned under the pressure of the dazed savior being pulled from the wall.

Regina's lips never left neck. She bit and licked. Her teeth sank into the flesh until Emma almost begged her to stop from the unpleasant sensation of real pain, and then a hot, wet tongue swiped the aching teeth impressions, dipping in and out of them, tracing each canine and bicuspid imprint. She knew that red teeth marks and purple bruising would show on her reflection in the mirror the following morning, but she couldn't have brought herself to care if she tried. She'd denied herself Regina for so long, but now she was here.

She was right there, pressed against her body as Emma trapped her between the door to her bedroom and her body. She was right there, fumbling with the handle as her own fingers tugged and manipulated buttons on the red silk dress shirt Regina loved so much. She was right there, dropping her shirt to floor and clawing so desperately at Emma's that nails caught her sides painfully in the haste to remove it from her body. She was right there, smirking wickedly a moment before she pushed her backwards almost savagely.

A moment of panic fluttered through Emma's chest, but her back hit the mattress and bounced once, alleviating her fear and heightening her arousal with the fresh adrenaline pumping into her system and throbbing between her legs.

"You're evil," Emma batted playfully as she recovered from the sudden fall. Moisture already spit and dripped from her already clenching walls, and she glided easily across the fabric of her soaked cotton boy shorts as she sat up. Random fingers of both hands hooked into the waist of Regina's skirt and jerked The Queen as close as she could get without mounting the bed.

"Evil has always brought me pleasure," Regina twisted the words against her. "Let's see if it has the same effect on you, Savior." She slipped a knee between Emma's legs, pressing it tightly against her crotch. A shameless moan followed the stimulation, and Emma rocked her center against the freely offered pressure.

"Fuck," Emma muttered, driving herself slowly towards insanity with the deliberately tempered pace of her grinding. Everything was for Regina that night, and she didn't want to waste a single orgasm on self-pleasuring endeavors. The friction felt divine, though.

"I intend to, Miss Swan," Regina countered, using her interjection against her, and pressed her breasts into Emma's face.

The Savior took a moment to appreciate the red lace bra Regina wore, knowing the panties matched without looking. With a lascivious grin, she held Regina's gaze and pulled the cup of her bra aside, revealing a pert brown nipple begging for attention. Regina stared down at her, fighting with the urge to close her eyes and give herself fully to the tingling and heat caused by Emma's desire. She struggled valiantly until The Savior's mouth covered her nipple, taking as much flesh into it as possible.

Emma's nose wrinkled as she tried to grin around the mouthful and laved her tongue in a teasingly wide berth around Regina's sensitive peak. Wet pants rushed through parted lips, pushing her breast into Emma with each inhalation. When her pet's tongue brushed the wrinkled flesh closest to where she wanted it, a tight fist tugged sharply at blonde hair. Emma chuckled and put The Queen out of her misery, first nipping and then flicking her tongue across the diamond stud. The languid rolling of her hips never faltered.

"Emma," Regina breathed. She cradled her head closer for a moment and then pushed the other woman onto the bed. Emma's lips dislodged suddenly from her nipple with a pop, and she gasped at the ripple of electricity it pulsed into her belly.

Emma understood immediately when Regina reached behind her to unhook the clasp of her bra. She was meant to watch, and obediently tucked her hands behind her head for a better view. Her own breathing jogged her chest as the fabric tumbled down Regina's arms. The Queen smirked at the reaction and Emma did not even care how much Regina knew she wanted her.

"Are you going to dance, too?" Emma teased, hardly aware of the words falling from her mouth.

"If you're good," Regina promised.

Emma barely heard the rip of the zipper on her skirt beyond the pounding of blood in her ears, which only increased when that, too, joined the quickly piling clothes on the floor. And then Regina appeared over her wearing nothing but those damnable red lace panties that matched her bra. The moment Regina's hips settled onto hers, Emma bolted upright and attached her lips to Regina's chest, tongue dipping into the hollow of her perfect clavicle, pausing to suck on the knob. Regina rocked into her, and hands flew to those delicious hips, pulling and pushing until The Queen got the hint and settled into a steady rhythm against hers.

Emma's lips moved across her chest, and Regina's head fell backwards, granting access to anything her pet wanted. Her body responded to this woman's touch like no other's, and she wished to savor every moment, take her time. Emma seemed perfectly agreeable to the unspoken request and slowly guided her hands over a her feminine waist and ribs. One covered her breasts, and she almost felt embarrassed by the wanton noise that tore from her throat.

"Regina," Emma murmured against her neck. "You're more beautiful than I imagined."

The words stopped her cold, and her head pulled forward to meet those excited eyes full of disbelief and wonder. Emma Swan wanted her. "You've thought about this before?"

"Yes," Emma answered without hesitation. Regina lost her thoughts when a thumb and forefinger pinched her nipple. Her hips jerked forcefully into The Savior, and Emma barely kept them upright with one hand behind her on the bed, the other never stopping it's sensual massage of the aching nub. "So many times."

Their heat combined everywhere, stomachs and breasts pressing together. Regina's hands reclaimed blonde hair as her mouth dominated the one beneath her. Emma let her, understanding on some level her need to control the situation. She may have found the perfect partner, one who allowed her everything and held nothing back.

Emma lowered them slowly to the bed, hands everywhere and nowhere at once. A firm squeeze on her ass. Nails raked her back lightly, and the hiss that followed broke the kiss. Her hips rocked against the rough denim fabric of Emma's jeans hard enough to move her entire body on the bed. A husky sigh from Emma's throat followed, vibrating the teeth and lips that attached there suddenly.

"Regina," Emma whimpered.

A hand buried in black tresses. Fingers danced against the puckered flesh between her cheeks. Hips rose to meet hers. Emma Swan surrounded her, and the sensations intoxicated her to the point of dizziness. She latched onto the neck flesh beneath her lips and held on until some sort of equilibrium emerged. Her hips moved faster, expanding the bubble of pressure in her belly. The denim beneath her grew cool with her juices and then warm when she spread more.

"My Queen," The Savior rasped intentionally, knowing it would only take Regina higher.

Faster. Harder. Just something small to take the edge off, to calm her enough to ravage the gorgeous body rising up to meet hers. She'd thought about Emma Swan writhing beneath her from the moment she set eyes on her in the throne room the day she arrived in Storybrooke. The fruition of that slowly burning desire now built between her legs in a rampant conflagration that threatened to consume her completely.

Harsh breaths puffed against the skin of Emma's neck, followed by tiny whimpers as Regina worked herself towards orgasm with only grinding against her partially clothed body. It hadn't taken long at all, a testament to how badly she'd wanted Emma from the start.

"I love you," a wet whisper eclipsed the breathy sighs and harsh gasps filling the room.

"What?" Regina sat up, suddenly sober. Emma stared up at her, barely able to keep her eyes open in the inebriation of her desire.

"I love you, Regina. I always have. The original Regina was… she was amazing, but you…" Emma panted between lines of her confession. "You're everything. I love _you,_ Regina," she emphasized the words, telling the woman above that of all the different versions of Regina she had met she chose her to give her heart to.

Regina stared down at her pet, chest heaving and eyes wide. Dread grew in Emma's chest with each passing second. "Say something, or… or don't if you just want to keep kissing and ignore that for now… Regina?"

"You're a fool," Regina mocked viciously. Her body disappeared from Emma's abruptly, and in the half a second it took her for her to sit up, Regina already strode halfway to the door that connected their rooms.

"Regina, wait," she called and made it two steps.

"Good night, Miss Swan," The Queen spat a moment before the door slammed and the tumblers of a lock echoed in the now silent room.

Emma stood still, frozen in place by the hole ripping in her heart. Had she just destroyed everything? Her body lowered to the bed in slow motion, and Emma startled to find the pressure of it beneath her legs and hips. She'd just confessed her love, and Regina freaked the fuck out. Maybe this hadn't been about cultivating that, she reminded herself. Of course, it hadn't been. It had been about sexual pleasure and the rush of domination when she finally gave into Regina's advances. This Regina spent 30-plus years with Cora whispering into her ear that love is weakness, and Emma had to open her fat mouth.

She dropped her face into her hands, too shocked to cry and too upset to move. "Shit."

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><p><strong>Another huge shout out to my writing wife pixip53, whose first reaction to this particular chapter was too good not to share. "omfg if i could slap you i totally would right now" Thanks again for the feedback and putting up with my shenanigans, Love! You're the best.<strong>


	27. Lineage

Wow! Thank you so much for the massive response to the last chapter! It has inspired me to put this one up a little early.

Enjoy, my beauties!

Song: Lovers or Liars by Lauren Aquilina

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><p>"I'm bored," Emma complained. Regina grunted noncommittally from behind her desk just as she'd done all morning. The Savior shifted in her seat and propped her feet on the rounded corner of the long conference table in Regina's office at Town Hall… or the Throne Hall as it was called in this timeline.<p>

"Regina, you've not said a damn thing all morning except for 'Read this.' when you tossed this stack of crap in front of me," Emma grumbled and crossed her arms over her belly.

Regina looked up from the paper she studied, some sort of budget report from what Emma saw when she'd wandered behind Regina ten minutes ago to look at the books on the shelves behind the desk. The Queen twitched one finger, and an invisible hand knocked her feet from the table. Emma grunted when they hit the floor painfully and straightened herself in the chair.

"That crap, as you so delicately describe it, are the bylaws of my kingdom. You must learn this material whether you wish to or not," she explained, clearly irritated and turned back to the budget report.

She pinched the bridge of her nose a moment later and then retrieved her sexy nerd glasses from the top drawer of her desk. Emma's lower stomach twitched when she settled them on her face, the ache from the previous night returning full force. She shifted in the chair, wiping her hands nervously on her jeans while attempting to ignore the images of spreading Regina on the desk and burying her head between her legs.

"Regina, can we talk about last night?" She asked quietly, trying be as unobtrusive as possible.

"I have nothing to say on the subject, Miss Swan," she clipped without glancing up from the report. She rolled a pen between her fingers as though she might actually have been concentrating.

"Will you just listen, then?" Emma tried a different approach, hoping to manipulate Regina into spilling her thoughts of what would have been a fantastic night had her mouth known when to shut the hell up.

"I have no interest in your, no doubt, colorful explanations, Savior. This is the very reason I do not become sexually involved with those who make outlandish claims of love and devotion. If I'd wanted such silliness, I'd have married a second time," Regina seethed maliciously, knowing without looking that every single word ripped at the emotional woman's heart. Emma felt everything and hid nothing.

"Damn it, Regina!" Emma yelled as she came to her feet. "I know you feel it, too. You felt it last night. I scared you and I'm sorry, but that's no reason to shut me out or pretend like it didn't matter, like _we_ don't matter." Emma pleaded with her voice and eyes for Regina to acknowledge just a small bit of what she said, but The Queen never bothered to look up from that damn budget report.

"Regina, I know you. You can pretend like I don't, but you know I do. I'm not asking you to marry me. I just…"

"What, Miss Swan?" She interrupted the floundering savior before she dug a deeper hole. "What is it that you wish from me? You don't know _me,_ Savior. You confessed your love to a woman you met three years ago. Am I supposed to reciprocate the sentiment because you cannot tell one from the other?" Regina mocked her coldly, clasping her hands atop the paper she pretended to read for the past ten minutes.

"That's what this is about? You're jealous of yourself from another world?" Emma asked incredulously. The skin around Regina's eyes tightened, answering the question without words. "You were talking about yourself when you called me a fool last night," Emma finally connected all of the pieces sadly. Her chest physically ached with the surge of guilt. She'd built Regina up and then torn her apart by mentioning her counterpart from the original timeline when she finally told her that she loved her. Stupid, stupid Swan.

"We were both fools," Regina stated firmly, a blaze of fury igniting in her eyes. "You have the luxury of being weak and vulnerable, Miss Swan. I do not, nor do I have time to waste fending off the obsessive advances of a Savior who cannot perform her duties with a modicum of dignity."

"Dignity? Regina falling in love with you is the most dignified thing I've ever done in my entire life. It's the only thing I've ever gotten right," Emma proclaimed in a voice that sounded far too sincere to The Queen.

"Shut up!" Regina screamed and swept her arm in what would have been a backhand if she'd been close enough to physically land the blow. Emma's head jerked to the side as magic closed the distance.

She touched the back of her hand to the split in her lip, but the red smudge blurred as tears separated the sight from her eyes. "I'm sorry," she breathed. After a moment of disbelief, she sniffed, raised her head and wiped her tears bravely.

"I'm not going to leave you, Regina. I'm not even sure I could get back to my timeline, but even if I had the chance, I'm not sure I even want to go back. I've done more good here in two weeks than I did in three years there. I have a purpose here, and even if you never get your head out of your ass and realize the reason you're so pissed about last night is because you're scared you might feel the same way, I'll still want to be here _for me._

"I have no idea what I did that screwed everything up. I won't deny that things were better there. You were free from Cora's influence and had been for the 28 years it took me to break the curse. You were practically forgiven for becoming The Evil Queen, and you and Snow White considered each other family, even if you still squirmed when the other was in the room." Emma touched her mouth again, gathering her resolve in the interlude between speech and thesis.

"And in spite of all of that, when I think about leaving you, I get sick to my stomach. I feel like I have to give up _my_ happy ending for theirs, but honestly, I'd rather just stay here with you and spend the rest of my life trying to figure out how to stay out of the isolation room," she finished gently with a little chuckle. Her life certainly became far more interesting in this world. This Regina presented a real challenge, and she had a real chance to make a difference in this world. Not to mention, she hated Robin Hood, which was just nifty.

A knock at the door stalled whatever verbal response Regina concocted, and The Queen took the distraction with pleasure. "Enter," she barked and stood regally with her hands clasped in front of her hips.

Ruby slapped at the guard's hands as he pushed her through the door. "Get off me. I know how to walk, you Herman Munster wannabe," she growled at the unusually tall man without a hint of facial expression. Her comparison wasn't far off, Emma reasoned with a smirk.

"Ah Miss Lucas, eloquent as ever," Regina grouched and lowered her body to the giant office chair.

"Sorry. Good morning, Your Majesty," Ruby collected herself immediately and bowed her head in respect. Regina almost chuckled at the sarcastic show of compliance. Ruby Lucas had never sincerely bowed to her in her entire life, and Regina sort of liked her that way. It suited her.

Emma squinted at Regina's amused reaction. Shouldn't she have been screaming 'Off with her head!' or something equally cliché and terrifying? With that thought, she crossed her arms over her chest and made herself as small as possible while Ruby stated her business.

"I assume you've come to claim your husband?" Regina queried absently and shuffled a few papers on her desk until she found the one she wanted.

"Oh crap," Ruby muttered. "I forgot you put Peter in jail." The wolf ran long, thin fingers through her hair and sighed. "Yeah, I'll put it on my to-do list along with everything else." She sounded exhausted already, and it was only nine in the morning.

Regina quirked an eyebrow. "You forgot that your husband had been imprisoned?" The Queen's voice shook and shivered with laughter, and Emma almost had a conniption. What the hell was her connection to Ruby and Granny?

"Uhh, yeah, that's not why I'm here," Ruby clarified. "I wanted to know where to start cutting trees. We've got saws and equipment to move the logs even if we do have to wait a little longer on making the boards and other building supplies." A fierce determination filled her voice, and Regina's face softened slightly.

"Have you even been properly released from the hospital?" She shocked both women with the concern in her tone.

Ruby shrugged. "Wolves heal fast. Whale took the stitches and staples out this morning, so I'm good enough to work if I'm good enough to not have something holding me together. Now where can I tell Marco and his crew to start cutting?" She dragged the subject back to their pet project, but Regina prolonged the visit for whatever reason.

"Have you recovered any memories of your attack?"

Ruby sucked a deep breath, head dropping with the effort of maintaining her patience. "A few scents," she begrudgingly admitted and adjusted her shoulders. "I'll find them when I smell them again," she continued, raising her head as rage and determination shone in her hard eyes.

"I trust you'll inform me when you do?" Regina confirmed, and Ruby nodded. "Is there something else bothering you, Miss Lucas?" The Queen asked, trying her damnedest to retain a neutral, uninvolved tone, but the other two women saw straight through the act. Regina genuinely cared for the young wolf.

"Belle will not be safe in my care as long as Peter remains at my side," she said without a moment of hesitation. She was going to ask Regina for a favor.

The Queen smiled deviously and slid a piece of paper across the giant desk. Ruby snatched it up quickly and skimmed its content. "The Queen's Army?"

"As you know," Regina started and leaned back in her chair, crossing one leg over the other. She looked so much like the original Regina in her royal blue blouse and gray skirt that just touched her knees, not to mention the obnoxiously tall black pumps. "The Queen may recruit any to her service at any time for any purpose. With the new knowledge that outsiders can cross the boundary, I've begun a campaign to protect us from those who may wish to exploit our… unique talents in this world without magic. As your husband is currently a prisoner, I need only a signature from his advocate to make the transition official. Ten weeks of training and an immediate posting at the barrier indeterminately."

"Why?" Ruby asked, head cocking slightly in confusion.

"To relieve you of his presence," Regina answered as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.

"Yeah, I got that, but why would you do this for me?" Ruby cocked a hip and wrapped a thin hand around it. Emma smirked, remembering the original Ruby doing the exact gesture a hundred times. Was it possible that these people would remember their time here if she set everything right? They were exact replicas with subtle differences because of their perpetual awareness of the curse and altered life choices, such as Ruby's marriage and Cora's presence.

Regina used the same smile the mayor used to while tossing around words with double meanings. "You are a favorite of The Queen's whether it is official or not." As quickly as the sentiment appeared, it dropped from her face with the smile.

She leaned forward immediately and retrieved the budget report in one stiff hand. "You may chose a swatch of land on the east end of town near the rest of the farms. It has the best land. Miss Swan will accompany you as a representative of The Crown. I'll happily detain your husband as long as it takes you to decide his fate," she dismissed them in a disinterested tone. Emma almost protested her own banishment but kept her mouth shut for once.

"I don't need time," Ruby whispered and snagged the pen from Regina's hand. She signed the paper, set the pen atop it gingerly, and pushed it back across the desk. "I love my husband, even if we couldn't make our marriage work. He's a good man, but if he stays where he is, he is going to end up dying by your hand because he is one blow away from joining the rebels outright. This has nothing to do with Belle," Ruby stated much too firmly. Regina's eyebrow jumped but she surprisingly held her tongue.

"Do take your time mapping the forest plot," Regina whispered conspiratorially with a pointed glance in Emma's direction. "Good day, Miss Lucas. Graham and Horace will escort you."

"Majesty, the people can't know that I did this," Ruby reminded her heavily.

Rather than respond verbally, Regina stood and crossed to a small wall safe hidden behind several books on the bookshelf. She unlocked it with some sort of enchantment and placed the paper inside before locking it up tight once more. She faced the wolf with a raised eyebrow and clasped her hands in front of her hips.

"I've been blamed for far worse," she accepted her role with a shrug. She was so damn good at being the villain. Ruby bowed her head almost graciously, even if it lasted only half a second.

"I'll provide interference. People won't understand at first, but I'll stress the importance of protecting the boundary and having good people working for them in The Queen's Army," Ruby compromised. It was almost dirty, but Emma knew better. Ruby protected the people she loved by nature, so even if her reasoning made no sense to them, she thought she did the right thing.

"Very well, Miss Lucas," Regina returned nonchalantly. Had she even cared what Ruby planned to tell the public or had she simply made good on her promise she made to Granny about taking care of the wolf?

"Do be back before dinner, Miss Swan," Regina dismissed them again and returned to the budget she studied so carefully. What the hell was so interesting about that goddamn budget report? Emma threw her hands in the air and stomped towards the door.

"Come on Eddie, let's leave Lily to her dark, windowless room," she grumped towards Ruby who followed with a confused expression.

"What?"

"Eddie Munster?" Emma clarified and waved to Graham and Horace who fell into step a few feet behind them.

"Oh right," Ruby laughed. "He was a werewolf, and Lily was a vampire. Well, that's just not nice to call The Queen a vampire," she said so seriously that Emma had no choice but to believe it meant sardonically.

"Yeah, well, I'm not feeling very charitable at the moment," Emma sniped, taking the conversation in a suddenly serious direction.

Ruby snorted and then sucked a deep breath of fresh air when they stepped into the cool morning. "I was going to ask if your night was good or bad," she said and pointed towards her bruised neck from Regina's wonderfully rough treatment the previous night and then moved to the fresh cut on her lip.

"The night started good, and everything has pretty much been shit since then," Emma answered honestly. It felt good to just talk to Ruby again. This Ruby was definitely more mature and far more tortured by her sense of duty and responsibility as a leader, but Snow White pretty much eclipsed her in the other timeline.

"Regina's an idiot. If Belle said to me what you said to her before I walked in, I'd have an affair in a heartbeat," Ruby admitted sadly and tucked her hands into the front pockets of her jeans.

"Fucking wolf ears," Emma grouched. Ruby chuckled and bumped her shoulder to Emma's.

"So, what happened to make it all go to shit?" She asked with genuine concern, and Emma fought down the urge to fling her arms around the tenacious wolf's neck. She'd missed her so fucking much.

"I told her that I love her while she was two hip thrusts from an orgasm," Emma whispered, knowing Ruby's ears picked up the words where Graham and Horace's hadn't.

"Shit, seriously?" Ruby's wide eyes might have been comical if Emma was so grumpy.

Emma nodded and then jerked hair from her face when the wind whipped it around. "I didn't mean to, but I've been trying to spit it out pretty much since I got here. I mean, I was attracted to the original Regina, but this version of her… I mean, I met The Evil Queen in The Enchanted Forest."

"How'd that go?" Ruby chuckled and stared straight ahead to hide the smile growing on her face.

"Locked up and sentenced to execution in less than an hour of meeting her?" Emma offered lightly. Ruby laughed, and the lingering smile it inspired warmed Emma's heart. She'd missed her friend, and it felt wonderful to finally get a piece of her back now that Ruby believed she jumped timelines.

"What about the other Regina?"

"She was a lot like this one, almost exactly the same, actually. But she was so tied up with guilt. By the time I broke down her walls, Peter Pan cast a curse, which made Regina…" Oh, Maybe she shouldn't tell the chosen leader of the people that Regina had the ability to take them back. "Pan cast a curse that separated us for a year, and by the time I got back to her, she and…" Emma chuckled and eyed Ruby, wanting desperately to see her reaction.

"She and Robin Hood had already hooked up. She's head over hills for the man." Ruby guffawed and grabbed her stomach. An amused and pained moan interrupted the laughter as she fought the stabbing sensation in her stomach.

"Oh my god. Oh my god, oh my god!" She grabbed Emma's shoulder and cackled. After a minute or two, she straightened and wiped her eyes, forcing her feet towards Marco's shop once more. "I needed that," she confided breathily, smile permanently plastered to her cheeks.

"So, this version is the one that makes you all juicy in all the right ways?"

Emma rolled her eyes at the typical Ruby comment and sighed. "Yeah, I'm in love with her, and I was stupid enough to say it when she was the most vulnerable. She always has called me an idiot," Emma chastised her own stupid self spitefully. She really hadn't meant to say it, but damn it, she'd felt it and Regina felt something, too. It'd be like wrestling a giraffe to get her to admit it now, but Emma knew it existed, even if only for a moment. The Queen had been far too out of control to be simply after sexual release.

"That didn't go well. Did she give you Cora's whole spiel about love being weakness? Blah blah blah."

Emma stopped abruptly and held a hand out to their escort, telling them to stay put several feet back. "What the hell is your connection with Regina? She treats you and Granny differently than everyone else," Emma practically demanded, unable to take the suspense anymore.

"You really love Regina?" Ruby asked, and Emma immediately saw the protectiveness flare in those expressive eyes.

"I do, despite all odds," Emma answered honestly, letting the sincerity show in her eyes.

Ruby sighed deeply and her shoulders collapsed in on her chest as she thought carefully on her answer. Finally, she raised her chocolate eyes to Emma's stormy green. "If you betray her with this information, I'll rip your throat out myself," she started and then took another steadying breath. "Granny was her nursemaid. My mother was her father's personal guard because of her wolf's heightened senses and strength. She was 13 when I was born in her parent's house, and I lived there for six years until Cora killed Daniel."

"Okay, so that explains Granny, but why does she tolerate you? I can't image you were particularly close."

Ruby glanced around anxiously and then leaned forward to press her cheek to Emma's. Her voice was so soft that the wind nearly covered it when she spoke again, but nothing could have masked the relief in her tone of finally revealing her long-kept secret. "No matter what Regina says, she's not a machine. She loved our father, and she loves me. Granny ran away with me to protect me. Cora doesn't know or I'd be dead by now."


	28. Secrets

Holy Crap! That makes a girl feel warm and fuzzy inside. I'm glad that I could surprise so many of you. *wicked grin*

As always, thanks a bunch for the reviews, follows, and support! Enjoy, Lovelies!

Song: Make Me Wanna Die by The Pretty Reckless

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><p>"Go ahead, guys," Emma instructed and jerked her head towards the Throne Hall. When Horace and Graham looked at each other hesitantly, Emma huffed and crossed her arms against the brisk wind. "Look, Regina is a hundred yards away. There are a fuck ton of guards just inside, and I'm standing here with a werewolf. I think I'm safe. I just want to talk to Ruby a minute in private." Between Marco's crew and her guards hovering all day, Emma hadn't another chance to ask Ruby more about her childhood with Regina once she'd digested the bombshell Ruby dropped on her.<p>

They begrudged her order and closed the heavy doors with echoing thumps. Ruby raised her eyebrow, which looked too much like Regina now that she knew the truth. She shook her head and averted her eyes, still adjusting to the knowledge. The two moved closer together, seeking warmth, as the wind picked up again.

"So, now that I'm not in complete and utter shock, can I ask you some more questions about your family?" Emma inquired respectfully. She'd pretty much changed the subject as quickly as possible after Ruby's big reveal until her mind coped with the fuckball of facts tossed at her.

"I guess, so. I'm not sure answers will help you get what you need, but after today, I'm pretty much an open book to you," Ruby answered with a nonchalant honesty that Emma had always loved about her. She was giant ball of oxymoron, gentle yet savage, naïve and torture, mature but childish. Her Ruby had come back to her, and it felt good, the entire day had.

"So, how did your mom hide the truth from Cora?" Emma asked quietly, still wary of prying ears she couldn't see.

"She was married to another soldier. It wasn't hard to hide it, really. She knew I belonged to Henry because she and her husband hadn't… uhhh, been intimate in over year when she got pregnant. Henry sent him to fight on the front lines against the ogres after my mom… ya know, one last time. It's all too fucking sneaky for my taste, but…" Ruby enlightened the curious pet and pressed closer as a shiver rippled through her thin body from the quickly dropping temperature of the evening.

"Gotcha," Emma said quickly, easing the wolf away from places she clearly wanted to avoid for the moment. "So, why were you in danger after Daniel died or was that just the first opportunity Granny had to run?" Emma pressed gingerly. It couldn't have been easy for Ruby to talk about something she'd kept hidden for 50-plus years.

"Emma," she sighed and studied the shorter woman's honest green eyes for a long moment. She only sought understanding that Regina refused her. Brown eyes slipped closed and a resigned sigh seeped through her lips slowly.

"Daniel was my uncle. Granny's younger child," she whispered without opening her eyes.

"Fuck me," Emma breathed, almost disbelieving the new wave of secrets being revealed.

Ruby sniffed and opened eyes only to bow her head as the heady emotions of the past rushed into her once more. "Regina was already like a daughter to Granny. She encouraged the union, and she helped them get the supplies to run away. I'm not sure Cora knew or she would have killed her on the spot, but Regina sent word with Henry from The King's castle that Cora was intent on finding and executing anyone involved." Ruby's jaws clenched and jumped with the memory of something she'd buried for decades. She must have felt something between torture and catharsis to finally share it with someone.

"Our entire family worked there, so it wasn't a huge leap to assume they'd helped him. Anita, my mother, chose to stay with Henry, but she gave us her horse and some money. We found that abandoned cottage in the woods and kept our heads down. He told me the night we left that I was his daughter and that he'd never stop loving me." Ruby's head dropped with the weight of her emotions. Was a single life in Storybrooke untouched by the despicable influence of Cora Mills?

Emma squeezed Ruby's shoulder compassionately, comforting the tortured wolf. "I'm sorry, Rubes. I can't imagine getting a blow like that as a kid."

"S'okay," Ruby shrugged and straightened her spine, the physical manifestation of gathering the scattered pieces of her childhood and shoving them into a box. "It was a long time ago."

Emma nodded and wrapped her arms around her waist again for warmth. Ruby released a shaky breath and met her gaze again. "He must have told Regina at some point because she showed up to the cottage one night after Snow left us. I thought she was going to kill us for helping her, but she just made Granny promise to keep me from the war she intended to wage with The White Kingdom."

She shook her head, jaw clenching with whatever memory flickered behind her eyes. "She touched my cheek and called me 'Sister' and then just poofed away. A part of me likes to think that she always knew but never said anything."

"You really care about her, don't you?" Emma asked, searching for something to make Regina feel more human, more lovable.

"It's cold," Ruby diverted the conversation to safer subjects and reached for the door. Emma took the hint.

"I won't say anything, not even to Regina," she promised and stepped inside the door the wolf held for her. "Come on. I'll get someone to walk you home."

"That's really not necessary. It's not that far," she protested, but Emma held up a hand.

"Someone tried to kill you, Ruby. You shouldn't be wandering around by yourself. Just humor me, please," Emma pleaded and made a beeline for the warmth of the throne room, knowing that Ruby would follow.

"Hey Horace, Graham, would you mind walking Ruby home for me? Just in case," Emma added for Ruby's sake. The wolf rolled her eyes when the guards flanked her immediately.

"Thanks, guys. See ya later, Ruby, and if you ever want to talk, you know where to find me," Emma offered with a genuine smile.

Ruby returned it and nodded. "Good night, Emma." She watched Emma stride towards Regina's office for a moment and then turned towards the front door. A sound caught her ear, and she whipped back towards the blonde. Horace and Graham grabbed at her when she took off in a dead sprint, but their reflexes came nowhere close to her wolf's.

"Emma wait!" She called as Emma turned the knob to Regina's office.

The Savior stopped cold, door standing wide open for the entire room to see and hear what happened within their queen's private chambers. A tall woman with porcelain skin, beautiful red hair cascading down her back, and muscles in her arms that bulged and bunched far more than Emma's held Regina upright atop her desk with one hand around her back while the other moved savagely beneath Regina's skirt.

The Queen's head was thrown back, eyes closed tightly. Her throat produced husky moans that vibrated the lips of the unknown woman biting and sucking at her mistress' throat. Regina's hips rolled upwards frantically, and Emma recognized the same desperation in her movements as she'd had the previous night.

"Harder," she ordered the woman, who obliged without thought. Regina hissed when her entire body jostled from the violent thrust. Nails raked the woman's alabaster skin, and blood trails followed them down her shoulder. Regina rocked into an arched back and stilled, trusting the woman to hold her upright while simultaneously pushing her into a chasm of ecstasy.

A pathetic sob broke the quiet breaths as both women recovered, and mortification swelled in Emma's chest when she realized it as her own. Regina's eyes flew open and met hers over her lover's bleeding shoulder. She pulled the redhead closer, hugging her as another wave of pleasure rippled beneath her skin, but her malicious eyes never left Emma's. With a hand around her throat, Regina jerked the woman's mouth to hers for a passionate kiss, holding Emma's gaze intentionally.

The woman gurgled as her airway closed and Regina forced their lips apart by pressing on her throat. A savage smirk grew on one side of her mouth, and The Queen trailed her fingers through the blood on her soldier's arm. The woman smiled adoringly at Regina, and extended her tongue to glide between two of the three fingers smearing blood over her lips.

"Hello, Miss Swan," Regina greeted nonchalantly and shoved the woman away from her. The amazon hit knees, awaiting her order like a good dog. "I didn't expect you to return so soon," she twisted the knife with her feigned innocence, knowing exactly what she'd done to The Savior.

Ruby's hands squeezed her shoulders, grounding her in reality. This was really happening. Regina allowed this woman to fuck her with the intention of Emma catching them, to hurt her, to shred her soul. Love was her weakness, The Savior realized. If she hadn't loved Regina, this wouldn't have wounded her in the very core of her being. Regina was teaching her another lesson, punishing her for her boldness. Emma said nothing but shrugged out of Ruby's grasp and walked numbly towards the entrance of the Throne Hall.

Ruby glared at her sister, eyes flickering yellow as her wolf fought to the surface. Without thinking, she stomped to the redhead and jerked her up by her shirt. If she'd had a choice in what just happened, Ruby might have punched her lights out. She pushed her towards the door. "Get out!"

"Miss Lucas!" Regina berated, but the wolf ignored her as she followed the female soldier and slammed the door, almost hitting her heels.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" She seethed and marched back to Regina.

"I thought my issues was clear by the activity you and Miss Swan so rudely interrupted, boorish pigs that you are," Regina scathed in a deceptively innocent high pitch that raised Ruby's hackles.

"You're a fucking idiot," Ruby bit back, and Regina's hand flew towards her, magic grabbing her about the throat. Ruby laughed at the empty display of violence.

"Go ahead, _Majesty_. I've endured much worse at the hands of your mother, or do you forget that no one, not even children, were spared the sting of her whip?" Ruby reminded them both of their childhoods, and Regina released her with a perfect turn on her toe of her massive stiletto.

"You cursed an entire population in search of a love like Daniel, your happy ending," Ruby reminded her furiously, not letting up one bit. "You just let her walk out the door. The gods know that no one else can love a monster," she punched Regina in the gut with her words and then followed Emma's path across the throne room and towards the outside. She didn't care how they affected Regina because Emma deserved her comfort far more than her tortured sister in that moment.

She found her new friend on the steps just outside, holding the back of her neck in both hands with her elbows propped on her knees. Graham and Horace stood over her, obviously preventing her from running any further. Ruby growled inhumanly at them, and they backed up a step as one unit as the wolf sat beside Emma.

"I'm sorry I couldn't get there fast enough," Ruby apologized and pressed a hand between Emma's shoulder blades.

"Take me somewhere," Emma whispered so quietly that her wolf ears actually strained to hear the words.

Ruby pressed her forehead to Emma's temple and whispered, "Where?" just as quietly.

"Anywhere," Emma returned and slowly raised her head to glare at the two guards keeping her prisoner.

Ruby moved faster than she remembered and bashed the back of her fist against Horace's eye socket. The gentle man stumbled, and Emma felt bad for hurting him. Graham fell to the ground cold when the supernatural being landed a solid punched on his jaw. Within a second, Ruby was upon Horace's back with a tight grip around his neck. The man fell slowly to his knees and then face first into the pavement in the unbreakable sleeper hold.

Ruby jumped up quickly and grabbed Emma's hand, pulling her from the steps with no effort at all. "Come on. I know these two won't stay down for long."

Emma followed her friend, barely keeping the wolf's graceful and effortless sprint. Once the Throne Hall left their rear view, Emma jerked on Ruby's arm and caught her breath when the wolf slowed her pace to a brisk walk. Adrenaline surged through her veins, and it felt damn good. Finally, Emma did something she wanted to do. She wanted to go for a long walk with her friend and clear her head.

"I can only go five miles from the mansion with this," she puffed and held up her arm.

Ruby nodded, brow furrowing. "I know the perfect place." She grinned wickedly at The Savior. "Think you can keep up, Savior?"

"What?" Ruby took off like a shot, and Emma scrambled to keep up with the frantic pace. "How?" She called when she came a within a few steps of the agile creature leading her into the forest.

"Wolf hearing and The Queen is fond of using titles. She really should be more careful," Ruby answered and then hooked a hard right, which Emma struggled to follow and barely missed tripping on a protruding tree root.

They ran that way until Emma's body ached and each breath came in a burning pant. Still she pushed forward, blazing through the tiny puffs of steam each short breath produced. Sweat beaded on her forehead and tickled her lower back. A rush of freedom filled her soul, and if Ruby felt half of what she felt in that moment when she ran thru the woods as a wolf, Emma no longer wondered why she felt the need to howl. She thought she might loose one herself. Freedom.

A moment before Emma asked Ruby to slow down, they burst through the edge of the woods and onto a cliff ledge. Ruby stopped abruptly and held out her arm to catch Emma before she toppled over the edge. A wide smile spread on the waitress' glistening face. She held Emma's gaze for a moment, barely out of breath, and then glanced over the scene before them. A swift river moved at least a hundred feet below the cliff and a grassy field lay on the other side of the wide canyon that Ruby probably jumped easily in canine form. The twinkle of the first stars shone clearly on the vantage point, and Emma figured that Ruby came here to howl at the moon during wolf's time.

"Wow," Emma panted and returned the brilliant smile. "This is…" she gasped for air and grasped for words.

"Fucking gorgeous are the words I think you're looking for," Ruby supplied and sat down, dangling her legs over the side of the cliff.

Emma joined her a moment later and unzipped her leather jacket to release the pent up heat from their frenzied sprint through the woods. She zipped it after only a minute or two, the cold of the evening chilling the sweat soaking through her shirt far too quickly for comfort.

"No one's ever kept up with me like that," Ruby praised, despite Emma's obvious need for recovery.

"I was two seconds from asking you to stop," Emma admitted shamelessly. Ruby was a frickin' wolf after all. No shame in being unable to match her physically. "Regina's going to pissed," she followed the confession with a statement of dread as the realization of what they'd just done settled atop her chest.

"Eh," Ruby grunted with a limp wave of her hand over the chasm. "She'll get over it. She always does… well, usually." They giggled at that and then allowed the silence to stretch when they petered out.

"Thank you," Emma whispered after a few minutes of nothing but chirping crickets to fill the stillness. It was comfortable, just as it'd always been with them.

"Thank you for getting Belle out of prison," Ruby countered and bumped their shoulders together.

"Now that I know how you're connected with Regina, I think her agreeing to that had more to do with how you feel about Belle than Regina's actual desire to have me. She just wanted me to have a reason to be obedient, something to hold over my head," Emma explained sadly. Perhaps Regina truly felt nothing for her. She certainly cared nothing for the woman she fucked with the same fervor with which she'd taken after her the previous night.

"Nuh uh. I've seen the way she looks at you, the way she bends for you where she would have been a steel wall before. Just give her time. What you saw back there-" she jerked a thumb over her shoulder and shook her head "-that's how she deals with things, which means you must have really gotten to her."

"Yeah, I gue…"

Ruby's hand clapped over her mouth with a tiny _snap._ Emma jerked, slapping at the hand, and the wolf released her but held a finger to her mouth in a shushing motion. Her head turned to the side as her eyes slipped shut, focusing her attention towards her sensitive ears. Her brow furrowed, and she lifted her head pulling air deeply into her lungs. Ruby's eyes flew open, and she stood, jerking Emma to her feet with one hand fisted in her jacket.

"Get ready to run," she whispered, fear evident in her voice.

"Ruby?" Emma breathed, her own panic swelling at the abrupt visceral reaction to whatever she heard and smelled.

"Emma, I smell the people who attacked me," Ruby finally filled her in with a trembling voice. "They almost killed me, Emma, and we are out here alone next to a cliff and no one knows where we are. We need to get out of here before they find us if they haven't already. Go that way," Ruby pointed along the edge of the cliff. "There's a smaller ravine we can jump and hide on the other side."

Emma followed her instruction without question and fell into step behind the wolf. Apparently, she deemed them too far away to hear their pounding footsteps on the grass. By the time they reached Ruby's designated jumping point, Emma panted for air again. Ruby nodded at her and leapt without a running start, landing on the other side easily. She turned and held out her hand, and Emma gathered a small start before sprinting towards the ravine.

She sailed through the air less gracefully than the wolf, but as she neared the edge, fear turned into elation as she realized that she had enough air to clear the canyon. Ruby grinned and reached for her hand as she neared the other side, and her wrist slid against Ruby's fingers. She was safe.

A loud boom rocked them both, and Emma's feet suddenly flew away from the edge. Ruby's grasped faltered as the blast hit them both, pulling them in opposite directions. An involuntarily squall tore from Emma's throat, less from the free fall towards the gushing river below and more from the seering heat emanating from The Queen's mark upon her wrist. She'd forgotten about her five mile rule.

"Emma!" Ruby's frantic voice reached her ears a moment before she plunged into the icy waters and darkness surrounded her.


	29. Hurt

Huge shout out to pixip53 for the awesome edit suggestions for this chapter. Never would have found my way through the labyrinth of all of these emotions without you in my current mental state! Thanks, Love!

And a huge thank you to everyone who continues to follow this story and comment in reviews and PM's. You're all amazing, and I'm glad to have such supportive readers.

Finally got my grandfather into surgery about an hour ago after a three day postponement. SO, you might get a double post if I get another done in the 8 hours I'll be sitting here.

Enjoy Lovelies!

Song: Talk to Me by Lauren Aquilina

* * *

><p>"Regina!" Ruby called when The Queen appeared on the other side of the ravine. She never slowed her pace, however, and Regina struggled to keep up in her massive heels in the dirt as the wolf walked briskly along the cliff.<p>

"I felt Emma hit the edge of the barrier. Where is she?" Regina demanded, not bothering to hide the hint of fear in her voice.

"She fell in," Ruby yelled across the chasm and pointed towards the river. "I've been tracking her. I figure you'd come when she tried to pass the five mile mark. Can you see her?"

Regina disappeared from the ledge, and a flash entered the water a moment later. Ruby jumped the ravine just as Regina reappeared with an unconscious savior in her arms. "She's freezing," Regina managed between her own chattering teeth. The frigid water soaking into her clothes, seeping into her bones.

The tickle of energy raised the hair on the back of Ruby's neck, and the wolf covered Regina's cold hands with her larger, warmer ones. "Don't use magic," she whispered.

"This is hardly the time for a morality speech. Emma is dying!" Regina snapped and pulled on her magic again.

"Stop, Regina, please. You'll kill her if you heat her up too fast. We need to get her somewhere warm. Take her to the hospital. Whale will know how to treat this," Ruby instructed.

Regina's eyes narrowed, and she clutched Emma tighter against her chest. "And where did you learn to treat it?"

Ruby rolled her eyes. "While you've been living in your cozy mansion, I've been taking care of homeless people who sometimes give up and lay down somewhere to slowly freeze to death rather than live in your kingdom another day, _Majesty,_" the wolf intentionally hurt her sister. It was her fault Emma fell in the damn river in the first place.

Regina grabbed her sister's hands in her one free hand. "Teach me, Ruby. Help me save her," she begged, a tremor of fear shaking her words. Ruby studied her sincerity for exactly one second before nodding and scooting closer until Emma's head pressed into her stomach.

"Lay her down. I need to check for a pulse," Ruby instructed, and The Queen surprisingly obeyed. She wasted no time on analyzing Regina's docile reaction. A faint thump touched her fingertips when she pressed them to Emma's neck, but her chest remained still and unmoving.

"Shit," Ruby cursed and laid her ear on Emma's chest. Her heat thumped slower with each beat. "She's not breathing." She sat up and tilted Emma's head back as Whale taught her and pushed a deep breath into The Savior's lungs. She barely parted her lips from Emma's to breathe and then pushed another puff of life into the fading woman.

Emma's chest deflated suddenly, and water gurgled from her mouth. Ruby rolled her onto her side as the liquid dribbled from her lungs, but Emma never woke. It wasn't a good sign, Ruby noted silently but kept her comments inside her head lest Regina freak out even more.

"We need to get her somewhere warm," Ruby repeated. Before she fully sucked another breath, the world around them shimmered and then became a bedroom. It was Emma's, but Ruby didn't know it at the time.

Ruby asked no questions, but reached forward and unzipped Emma's jacket. "Shit, she's not shivering. Regina, get her clothes off. Now!" Ruby added when Regina only stared dumbly at her little sister.

"Is she going to be okay?" Regina asked, not even bothering to hide her fear anymore.

"She needs a hospital, Regina. This is severe hypothermia, and gods only knows what she damaged when she hit the water," Ruby tried to persuade The Queen.

"No, I can't protect her there. Too many people," Regina reasoned.

Ruby grabbed Regina's shirt in a tight fist and shook the woman. "Regina, wiggle your goddamn fingers and make her clothes disappear, now. They're freezing. We need to get her warm!" The wolf yelled, losing her patience with Regina's frantic rambling.

With a wave of her hand, Emma's clothes disappeared, leaving the woman stark naked. "Pull the blankets back," Ruby barked her next instruction and lifted Emma from her arms. Regina listened, too scared and out of her element to do anything else. The wolf deposited Emma in the bed and then stripped her jacket and shirt, leaving only her bra.

"Go get dry and warmed up, and then get your ass in this bed," Ruby ordered, now completely in charge of the situation. Regina only nodded and watched her sister slip beneath the blankets with her pet. She hissed when Emma's cold, wet hair pressed against her chest, but she wrapped an arm around her head and held her closer.

Regina bolted to her room and changed into her pajamas, feeling silly for the expensive silk gliding over her body when Emma lay in the next room dying from hypothermia. She heated her own body with magic, dried her hair using the same, and then returned to Emma's room. With a deep breath, she slipped into the bed beside Emma.

"Regina, get as close as you can. Cover her chest and stomach with your body. We have to protect her internal organs," Ruby explained with much more patience than she felt.

Regina hovered over Emma for a moment before gently touching her chest to her pet's. She gasped but held firm against the frigid skin. She clamped her eyes shut as if it might have erased the image of Emma lying beneath her unconscious and broken. Her body shivered, and Regina recognized instantly the fear rather than the cold as responsible for the physical response. Ruby saw it immediately in her eyes.

"Hey," Ruby whispered and tucked a piece of hair behind Regina's ear. "It's going to be okay."

"I did this," Regina muttered darkly as self-loathing kicked into hyper drive. Ruby remained silent on the subject of blame but touched her hair again.

"It was an accident, Regina," she soothed the wallowing queen, but Regina jerked her head from Ruby's comforting fingers in her hair. She didn't deserve it.

"She never would have been on that cliff if she hadn't witnessed my dalliance with Azalia," Regina reasoned with a hard voice, cold. Ruby knew she meant the tone as a self-reprimand and sighed deeply.

"Regina," she started.

"Enough! I am your queen, you filthy mongrel," Regina reminded her harshly. Ruby rolled her eyes, immune to Regina's empty barbs by that point in her life, but she held her tongue. Nothing she said made anything better until Regina cycled a little more through the anger covering her fear. Without reason, a soft remembrance of her very early childhood filtered into her brain, and the wolf's lips cracked into a small grin.

"It's nice to be with you like this again," Ruby distracted her tortured sister from the task at hand and hopefully her obviously crushing guilt. "Remember those nights when you let me come into your room and brush you hair until I was too tired to hold the brush?" She asked The Queen in a nostalgic whisper, still afraid of someone overhearing their secrets.

Regina snorted and raised her eyes to meet the darker brown of her wolf sister's. "You were so tiny. I can't believe you grew so much taller than I," Regina wondered at their only partially different genes.

"You called me 'Puppy' like I was your little pet or something," Ruby laughed and then mimicked a very young Regina. "Now, Puppy, you are not a dish woman, stop pawing at my hair like a dirty pot."

Regina's lips quirked upwards without her permission. "You were the most uncoordinated creature I'd ever encounter," she agreed, losing herself in a memory of a tiny Red tripping over everything in sight… and those out of sight, such as air on a flat floor with no furniture near enough to blame.

"And yet, you still thought it was a great idea to put me on a pony," Ruby accused playfully. "I'm still scared of the damn things."

Regina snickered. "I did that so that you would stop following me around like, well, like a puppy," she admitted, eyes closing as she finally remembered where the nickname came from.

Ruby's grin spread into a smile, but it fell slowly as the reason for Emma's accident came crashing into her. Regina's eyes narrowed, sensing the abrupt change immediately. "I smelled the people who attacked me. They were in the woods. I don't know if they followed me or if they just happened to be there. That's why we jumped across the ravine."

"Give me your phone," Regina ordered and held out her hand. Hers had been soaked when she flashed into the water to grab Emma. She dialed Graham's number immediately and barked into the mouthpiece when he answered, sounding groggy and disoriented. "Graham, organize a search party immediately. Miss Lucas has informed me that her attackers were in the woods near the ravine not ten minutes ago. I need you to track them and bring them to the prison immediately."

She ended the call before he responded and handed it back to Ruby. "If they left a trail, Graham will find them," she assured the wolf.

Any response Ruby might have formulated died when Emma's body shook violently beneath them. She breathed a sigh of relief and pressed her forehead to Emma's while Regina's eyes flew wide open in fear. Ruby snorted at the dramatic reaction and cupped Regina's cheek lovingly. "It's a good thing. It means her muscles are warm enough to shiver, which will generate more heat. She's okay."

Regina nodded and turned her gaze to Emma's pale face. Ruby just watched the different emotions dance across her sister's face and then disappear as The Queen rejected them one by one. After a moment, Regina scooted down the bed and laid her head on Emma's chest and wrapped a possessive arm around her waist. Ruby smiled.

"The Evil Queen falls in love with The Savior, which will end the curse completely," she murmured, almost to herself.

"So, you know then," Regina grated between clenched teeth, not really surprised. Ruby possessed an annoying talent to overhear most of is said within a 100 yard radius of her sensitive ears.

"I'm not stupid enough to tell anyone, Regina. That's only going to start a war that I want no part of," Ruby assured The Queen and then grinned mischievously. "Plus, this is much more romantic and poetic."

"I'm not in love with, Miss Swan," Regina reminded aridly. She tossed in an eye roll for dramatic effect, but it was lost on the dreamy wolf.

Ruby rolled her eyes, unknowingly copying her big sister's gesture of slight annoyance. "Not yet, but you could be if you stop putting her through these insane tests of loyalty and just let yourself feel something." She'd expected nothing less than denial from her emotionally stunted sister than a complete avoidance of her feelings towards Emma Swan.

Emma shivered again once, stilled for a moment, and then vibrated as her muscles suddenly kicked into overdrive. Ruby slowly released her grip on The Savior's head and detangled her body from the blankets. "She's going to be fine," she assured and pulled her shirt over her head. "Just stay under that blanket with her for the rest of the night, and she should be all warmed up by morning."

"Miss Lucas," Regina warned, a sudden panic grabbing at her heart. Ruby wanted her to hold Emma all night, and Emma's accident scared her enough to actually do it, which Ruby knew.

Ruby smirked devilishly and saluted The Queen sardonically. "You're welcome," she chirped and turned to leave.

"Ruby," Regina called softly, freezing her little sister in place. "Please sleep in my room tonight." She pointed a trembling finger towards the door connecting her room to Emma's. "We haven't a clue yet who followed you to the forest, and I'd like to avoid another incident."

Ruby glanced between the door and Regina several times. After a pregnant stretch of silence, the wolf barked a loud laugh and nodded. "Okay, I promise not to leave you alone with your feelings."

"You're insufferable," Regina grumbled and tried to relax against Emma's shivering body.

"Guess it runs in the family," Ruby volleyed lightheartedly. Not many people knew this Regina, and she wished more than anything to show the world her sister's compassion, maybe more than she wanted Belle as her wife. Regina clicked her tongue but offered nothing more to the conversation. She decided then not to allow another 47 years pass without spending time with her little sister like this again.

Ruby rolled her eyes. "Do I at least get dinner?"

Regina pointed to a button on the wall that looked like a doorbell. "Of course, you may eat. Press that button. I'll inform Astrid that you will be taking dinner in my room tonight. I'm not a monster, Miss Lucas." The conversation pertained to food, but Regina's words kicked her back to the moment in her office before she chased after Emma. Apparently, she'd hurt her sister's feelings, but Regina hadn't the first clue how to tell her that without using anger.

Ruby's good mood fell flat on its face and flopped around as it died. "Regina, I didn't mean that. I was pissed because you just do this shit. I wish you used your ingenuity for things other than tearing people apart, but…" she shrugged and shoved her hands in the pockets of her jeans.

"Good night, Miss Lucas," Regina dismissed her before the conversation turned sentimental and pointless. What was done was done. She could no more reverse the decisions she'd made any easier than Ruby could have stopped being a wolf.

"Right. Night, Majesty," Ruby took the abrupt dismissal in stride. "Cover her head," she offered a final instruction and then meandered from the room.

Regina conjured the remote to Emma's television and searched the channels for the one she wanted. "It's not quite time, yet, but I suppose if I remain awake long enough, you may watch The Golden Girls with me tonight," she murmured quietly to the shivering savior and pulled the blanket up further, wrapping it around Emma's head without covering her face. On second thought, perhaps she wanted to kill Ruby for forcing her to nurse her pet back to health. She was the queen for Gaia's sake.

"You recalcitrant fool, you nearly killed yourself running off like that," Regina murmured into Emma's chest softly. The words inspired anger to flare where worry and fear had been nestled uncomfortably in her chest.

"If you hadn't proclaimed your undying love this might have been avoided. You are the most confounding, unruly insurrectionist I have ever encountered, and if the people liked you only half as much as they do now, I'd have killed you already," she continued, unable to accept her own guilty role of Emma's injuries. Those thoughts scared her, but anger was comforting, familiar.

"Had you even considered if you'd just kept your mouth shut, something you are utterly incapable of doing, I might have achieved my sexual release with you, thereby omitting the need to take up with my guards?" She blamed Emma because she couldn't blame herself, not for this, not when it meant confessing her own more tender feelings towards the obstinate blonde.

"This entire mess might have been avoided," Regina continued, giving into her anger. It felt better than wallowing in self-pity and guilt. "You'd never have fallen, and I would never have needed to dive into a freezing current to save your worthless life. I would never have had to make pointless conversation with that vile creature in my room." She almost hoped Ruby listened with her wolf hearing.

"It hurts," Emma gasped through chattering teeth.

Regina startled and raised her head from Emma's chest. How much had The Savior heard? It didn't matter. A switch flipped instantly, and she touched Emma's face, soothing the wounded time traveler. "Emma, you have hypothermia. I can't warm you up any faster," Regina explained as the anger slipped from her easily now that a task eclipsed her racing thoughts and mild panic from holding the other woman so intimately. She needed to soothe Emma to prevent further injury, and her words meant nothing more than that, she reasoned.

"Regina?" She tried to open her eyes, but they refused to cooperate. Regina's brow furrowed in concern. Was Emma's confusion normal? She didn't know and felt calling Ruby might have exacerbated the situation.

"You're safe now, Emma," she reassured the disoriented woman. "You're in the mansion."

"It hurts," she repeated, and Regina swallowed thickly, shocked by the sudden emotion catching in her throat.

"I know," she agreed, but she hadn't a clue. Desperate for something to calm the increasingly distraught woman, Regina propped pillows on the headboard, elevating her slightly when she lay back and pulled Emma's head onto her chest. Emma resisted very little in her impaired cognitive state and tucked her head beneath Regina's chin, allowing her mistress to guide her arm around her waist.

Despite their combined warmth, Emma continued shivering and whimpering as her body slowly reheated, bringing with it the icy pinpricks of nerves rejuvenating proper sensation after being frozen still. Regina almost called for Ruby, but when she sucked a deep breath and opened her mouth, she surprised herself when a slow, haunting song wept from her lips.

"_I am stretched on your grave, and I'll lie here forever. If you hands were in mine, I'd be sure they would not sever. My apple tree, my brightness, it's time we were together for I smell of the Earth and I'm worn by the weather." _

Emma settled slightly, and Regina pulled the blanket over her head again and tucked it around her body as she continued with the next verse. _"When my family think that I'm safely in my bed. Oh, from morn until night, I am stretched out at your head, calling out unto the earth with tears hot and wild for the loss of a girl that I loved as a child."_

Something hot and wet dripped onto Regina's chest, and she held Emma a little tighter. "I'm sorry, Mom," Emma whispered, delirious. "I'm sorry that I couldn't forgive you, Mommy." She wept quietly into Regina's chest, and The Queen gritted her teeth against the unsuspecting emotions welling in her chest. The Savior hid more pain than she initially believed.

"_Do you remember the night, Oh, the night when we were lost in the shade of the blackthorn and the touch of the frost? Oh, and thanks be to Jesus we did all that was right and your maidenhead still is your pillar of light."_ Regina's voice cracked with emotion, but Emma seemed not to notice as she burrowed further into her embrace. Her shivering subsided slightly until only a few shakes and tremors shook her body ever 30 seconds or so.

"_Oh, the priests and the friars, they approach me in dread, Oh, for I love you still, Oh, my life, and you're dead. I still will be your shelter through rain and through storm, and with you in your cold grave, I cannot sleep warm." _

"I won't let her die, Henry," Emma mumbled, and Regina smoothed a hand over her still cold back.

"Who are you protecting, Emma?" She asked gently, not really expecting an answer but playing along anyway.

"Your mom. Regina's a difficult person, but she's still your mom. I have to protect her. I won't let anyone hurt her, Henry, I promise," Emma proclaimed valiantly, completely dissociated from reality.

Regina trailed feathery finger tips down her spine and dragged them upwards only to repeat the process over and over. "Who wants to hurt Regina?" The Queen asked, punching herself in the face the entire time. She shouldn't have taken advantage of Emma's mental state.

"They want to kill Regina. She's The Evil Queen, but I won't let them hurt her. I liked her a lot more when I didn't know what she was thinking, but she doesn't deserve to die," Emma admitted in a stage whisper and then giggled. The joyous sound led to a coughing fit, which Regina endured patiently despite the saliva flying onto her chest. She wiped at the wetness, trying her best to ignore Emma's confession.

"Mary Margaret, are you really Snow White? Are you my mother?" Emma asked, sounding more like a lost little girl than The Savior she was born to be.

Tears blurred Regina's vision, and she blinked them away angrily. Those idiots put their daughter in a tree and sent her into an unknown world barely five minutes old, and it'd been her fault, just as Emma's hypothermia was caused by a terrible decision she'd made. Despite all of that, Emma cared for her, and she'd done nothing but make her existence miserable from the moment she arrived in this timeline.

"Rest, Emma. It won't hurt in the morning," Regina made false vows that a part of her knew she needed to hear more than the delirious savior.

"It won't hurt tomorrow," she promised and held her lips to Emma's cool forehead in a lingering kiss that soothed them both.

Had Emma been lucid, she'd have realized immediately that Regina soothed herself with the promise of diminishing anguish.

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><p><strong>The song Regina sings is I am Stretched on Your Grave as performed by Kate Rusby<strong>


	30. Switch

Granddaddy is doing great! Thanks for all the well wishes and reviews. You guys are awesome, and I did a thing for you.

Enjoy!

Song: Hear Me by Kelly Clarkson

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><p>"I burnt the waffles," Emma muttered.<p>

Regina stirred slowly from the slumber she'd accidentally fallen into. Emma shifted atop her again, and Regina tried to scratch the tickle on her cheek only to find both arms pinned down by The Savior's body sprawled atop hers. It took a moment for her mind to register that Emma's hair brushed her face.

"I ruined the snow day. I burnt the waffles," Emma whined childishly without seeming too upset about the situation in her dreams.

The moment struck Regina suddenly, and her body and brain awoke simultaneous with a painful jolt of adrenaline that left her heart pounding wildly against her chest. She wondered if it woke Emma when the blonde shifted and nuzzled into her chest. She expected irritation to follow the realization of her current position, but it never came. Last night changed something.

Emma almost died as a direct result of something she'd done. Her stomach burned with the thought, and she tried to identify the emotion that caused such a visceral response. She felt it but couldn't call it by name. That bothered her far more than it should have; Regina Mills rarely felt anything she hadn't meant to feel intentionally. Anger swelled at Emma for causing such a reaction within her, and she almost pushed The Savior off of her roughly.

"We could just have brownies for breakfast. Don't tell your mom, okay?" Emma whispered and then giggled like a child stirring up mischief.

All thoughts of removing the other woman from her comfy pillow slipped away, replaced with something else Regina couldn't identify. It felt lighter than the churning in her stomach and the rapid thumping of her heart. It was light and warm, a manifestation of Emma Swan inside her chest. With a deep breath, Regina closed her eyes and accepted the emotion instead of covering it with rage. Her surrogate rage led to a decision that nearly cost her pet her life, and she determined not to do that again.

Ruby had been right about one thing. Perhaps she wasn't a monster, but she failed the qualification test for being human. The disturbing thoughts eclipsed everything, so when she felt soft hair beneath her fingertips, she startled back to reality. At some point between waffles and brownies, Emma shifted off her right hand, which managed to find a path to tangled golden tresses fanned over her chest. They hid Emma's face, which bothered her for another reason she was unable to determine, so she tucked it behind her ear.

She jolted again when sleepy green eyes blinked up at her. Regina simply stared down at her for a moment and then released the breath she'd unconsciously held. Emma's forehead scrunched in confusion, and Regina braced for the delirium Emma suffered the previous night.

"What the hell are you doing?" Emma sniped and pushed herself off of The Queen. The cool morning air hit her bare breasts, hardening her nipples, and Emma shivered. "And why the hell am I naked?" She jerked the blanket around her body, obstructing Regina's view more than seeking warmth, though that was wonderful.

"You fell into the river. Do you remember?" Regina asked quietly. She held her body stiffly, reluctant to move unless Emma asked.

"Ruby," Emma whispered and pinched the bridge of her nose as a sudden headache pounded behind her eyes. "Is Ruby okay?"

"Miss Lucas is uninjured," Regina confirmed, unable to prevent the demure attitude from seeping into her now that Emma was conscious. "You, however, suffered from severe hypothermia. How do feel?" She asked, genuinely concerned whether her voice reflected it or not.

"I fell off a cliff," Emma responded as though it explained everything. She collected pieces of the previous night and snapped them together one at a time. Her mouth tightened as it all came crashing back, and she raised her stormy eyes to Regina's.

"Get out," she whispered, lowering her voice in order to control it.

"Emma," Regina started, but Emma turned her face away, unable to even look at her any longer.

"Get out, Regina, or send me back to the isolation room," Emma growled, voice rumbling with the barely suppressed emotions.

Regina sucked a sharp breath, retort burning on her tongue. Her chest deflated slowly, and she bit the inside of her jaw, fighting the urge to lash out at the disrespectful woman. "As you wish," she whispered. She heard the light gasp at her acquiescence but dared not look at her pet as she stood and moved around the room. She retrieved a dark blue tank top and a pair of shorts that she swore were meant for men and tossed them on the bed before slipping into her room without another word.

Emma squinted at the odd behavior and reached the clothes with muted movements. Everything hurt, and she struggled into the shirt but gave up on the shorts. The large comfy bed sang to her aching body, and she gave into the siren's call. As her eyes closed, a familiar scent tickled her nostrils. Regina's shampoo. She pressed her face into the fabric and breathed deeply, seeking that peaceful feeling The Queen's scent brought her in the isolation room the night she'd taught Regina how to cuddle without having sex.

The pang of anguish in her chest brought tears to her eyes. She slipped a hand beneath the pillow and held it tighter to her face, muffling the sobs that followed. If Regina had simply screwed someone else, Emma felt certain she could have forgiven her without too much thought. They weren't married or committed in any way except by their pet/mistress bond, which was not necessarily sexual. Regina used it to torture her, though.

She'd planned it perfectly, knowing exactly what result she manipulated. Regina hurt her. It wasn't a loss of temper or a spur of the moment mistake, like slapping her or lashing her until she passed out. She planned it. She planned every single destructive detail with no other intention except to rip out her metaphorical heart and shred it until all of the love dripped out of the gaping slits.

"Damn you," she cursed into the pillow. "Damn you!" She screamed and flung the scented object at the far wall, narrowly missing her t.v. Her exhausted body collapsed to the bed, and she gave herself to the tears already flowing from her eyes.

"Emma?" Ruby's sympathetic voice called to her from the small crack in the door. When she received no response, she slipped into the room and shut the door softly. "Emma?"

"I can't, Ruby," Emma whispered. "Unless you're here to tell me how to get home, just go away, please. I just can't right now," Emma articulated her needs as much as possible, not wanting to hurt her friend.

"Okay," Ruby accepted the brush off easily. "Come by the work site today if you want to chat. I'll be there until it gets dark," the wolf offered.

Ruby bit her bottom lip for a moment and then went for broke. "Emma, I know that it hurts like a bitch right now, but I learned a long time ago that everything she does has a purpose. Yes, she meant to hurt you, but I think she was also testing you. If you really love her, you'll find a way to forgive her.

"As fucked up as that was - and I'm not justifying it because I can't - Regina has her reasons for doing what she does, even it they don't make sense to anyone else. It's who she is. She never really does what you expect her to do, and she's a lot more fragile than she acts. I know that you know all of this, and you'll decipher her reasons when it doesn't hurt so much. You get her so much better than I do. I guess what I'm trying to say is: take your time to grieve and work through the pain, but don't cut her out of your heart yet." No response from The Savior followed, so she slipped out of the room without breathing another word.

Emma only stared at the window and watched the sky slowly change colors. Between spending most of the night shivering, the impact of the fall, and her less than stellar awakening in the arms of the woman that felt too fucking wonderful to be reality, she already had nothing left to offer the day. She was done, and she wanted to go home and pine after the Regina she'd lost and watch the original Regina fawn over Robin Hood. She honestly believed it would have hurt less.

A knock at her door startled her, but her body immediately settled limply into the crevice her body made in the mattress. After a few minutes the door swung open to the clattering of porcelain and metal. She expected Astrid, but Regina placed the tray over her hips and silently crossed the room to retrieve the wooden chair from her desk. Emma continued staring out the window.

Regina sat primly, unnerved by The Savior's silence. Even when angry, Emma always spoke her mind. It was one of her more endearing qualities and had humbled The Queen on more than one occasion, though she'd covered the softer effects with anger. A mistake she now strove to rectify.

"I made waffles and bacon," she said quietly and clasped her hands anxiously in her lap atop the material of the square cut red dress. She's worn it specifically for Emma. It covered her cleavage with the high cut that stopped just short of her throat, but The savior always seemed more interested when she left a little mystery as to what lay beneath her outfits.

"Don't you mean your staff made it?" Emma asked in a flat voice without moving any other part of her body.

"No, I sent them away from the kitchen after they showed me where the ingredients and appliances were located," Regina informed her proudly, hoping the sentiment behind the simple act of cooking breakfast affected her pet positively. Emma said nothing and remained statuesque.

Regina took a deep breath and released it quickly through her nose. "I was uncertain what you liked atop them. Mason suggested that sugary strawberry and blueberry mixture and peanut butter. I brought the syrup and honey," she explained the different containers circling the plate.

The mention of her son inspired Emma to roll onto her back and look at her mistress. "Mason helped you?"

Regina nodded. "I told them they were for a sick friend. He was more than happy to assist before his lessons."

Emma grinned slightly and forced herself to sit up and lean against the headboard. Regina's heart lifted, and her face must have shone brightly with hope because Emma glared at her. "My son made me breakfast. Don't look so excited."

She pointedly pushed the syrup and honey to the back of the tray and dipped the homemade fruit topping onto the waffle. She would have preferred plain butter and syrup, but she made a point to ignore Regina's suggestions. The Queen's face fell dejectedly, but she remained silent as Emma cut off a hunk and shoved it into her mouth obnoxiously.

"You spoke of waffles in your sleep," Regina filled the uncomfortable silence. Emma swallowed without responding and speared another fluffy square with her fork. She remembered her dream vividly, but Regina deserved to know absolutely nothing of its sacred content. It was more like a memory than a dream.

"Is the taste amiable? It's been quite a while since I've commandeered the kitchen," Regina babbled, growing more uncomfortable by the minute.

"Fine," Emma clipped around a mouthful and took a sip of coffee.

"I vaguely remember you enjoyed caffeinated syrup with breakfast," Regina transparently sought approval of the coffee she'd fixed for her pet.

"It's fine," Emma said with a sigh. "Are you just going to sit there and fidget? Why the hell are you here? Bringing me breakfast and acting like a human being who isn't horrible?" She launched the verbal attack lazily, not even finding the energy to insult Regina with conviction.

Regina clamped her mouth shut immediately and picked at the cuticle of one thumb with the nail of the other. Emma returned to her breakfast, actually quite hungry now that she'd tasted the first bite. The Queen pushed her anger back into the box she'd tossed it in while holding a sleeping Emma that morning and took several deep, steadying breaths.

"I had hoped the act might say what I cannot," Regina admitted almost inaudibly.

"That you're a remorseful cunt?" Emma asked in a deceptively sweet voice. Regina took another huge breath, accepting her pet's barbs to the best of her ability.

"Will you tell me about your life in the other timeline?" The Queen asked hopefully. Perhaps if Emma shared her homesickness, everything else seemed became slightly more tolerable. Ruby suggested it before she departed for the diner to shower and change and explained the reasons why Emma needed more support adjusting to this life.

Emma sighed and pushed her plate of food away symbolically and snagged her coffee cup. "What do you want to know?" She said into her cup, resigning herself to the forced conversation, and braced her mind with coffee. Regina's heart exploded with joy laced with potent anxiety. Her sister pointed her in the right direction, but now she picked her way across the rocky path on her own.

"You mentioned my relationship with your mother, yesterday. It was amiable?" Regina broached the subject carefully. Her soul twitched with the thought of saying a kind word to Snow White, but Emma obviously missed her, so she bit her tongue and thought for the first time about what Emma might want.

"Why? You want to fuck her, too?" Emma muttered and took another swig of coffee. Rage flared in Regina's heart, and she wasn't able to stop it this time. She was trying. Why was Emma being so harsh and unforgiving? In the two seconds, it took for her to run through the possible reasons in her mind, words flew from her mouth that she'd never meant to unleash.

"Who says I haven't? She's been my prisoner for quite some time," she seethed maliciously, implying that she may have forced her step-daughter. Anger was so easy, so comforting.

"Get out of my sight, you wicked bitch," Emma bit right back. Regina's heart lurched happily. A slice of her precious pet shone in the fire flickering to life in her eyes.

"There's my girl," she cooed. As quickly as it came, Emma snuffed out the ire, refusing Regina the satisfaction of getting a rise out her.

It was enough for Regina, apparently, to know that her pet was still in there and hadn't in fact been broken. She was just upset with her. "I never touched her, Emma, not like that," she reassured the sulking blonde. She thought her words made it better, but they implied that she'd harmed her in other ways without Regina realizing it.

Emma stared into her coffee. "Get out," she repeated after a long pause. Regina's mouth dropped open in shock. What had she done this time?

"Emma?" She tried again. Why couldn't she just apologize?

"Do you suddenly not speak English? I don't want you here. I don't want to tell you about my life and I don't want you in it. That ship has sailed. You made it perfectly clear what I am to you, a possession to be used and discarded, like a toy. So, just get the fuck out until you need to take me off the shelf again to trick the public into believing you've actually changed." Emma's voice rose with each word, building to a crescendo that cracked anticlimactically at the end. Regina wasn't sure if emotion or exposure to the elements the previous night caused it, but the message was clear. She'd destroyed her relationship with Emma Swan.

"Finish your breakfast," Regina instructed numbly. "You're body endured quite a shock last night." With that, Regina stood and smoothed her dress, departing without further comment. She needed help to make this right because she clearly hadn't a clue how to apologize properly. Breakfast in bed had not worked as 'The Google' had instructed her it would, so she checked it off her mental list immediately.

Emma fumed at The Queen's gall. Had she actually thought she'd trick her into believing for the umpteenth time that she actually gave a shit about her? The coffee cup shattered against the door before it finished closing, splashing and dripping dark brown onto the beige carpet from the streams trickling on the white door. Unsatisfied, Emma flipped the tray from her lap and slumped into the bed, uncaring about the stains the toppings surely rubbed into the rug upon contact. She pulled the blanket of her head, blocking out the light.

She was done behaving. She wanted to go home. At least there, her fantasy of someday loving Regina and being loved in return still lived.


	31. Good

Thank you so much, my pretties for the reviews and follows! You're amazing!

Enjoy!

Song: If I Can't Love Her from Beauty and the Beast, I See the Light from Tangled

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><p>Regina blinked.<p>

For the past ten minutes, she'd done absolutely nothing productive. Her hands remained attentive, one grasping a pen and holding it just above the budget report she scoured and the other holding the ear of her sexy nerd glasses against her teeth. Her eyes, despite her best posture, studied Emma at the far end of the table as far from her as possible. She'd spoken nothing to The Queen all morning but quietly moved to the far side of the room with the binder of laws and read quietly. Well, as quietly as Emma Swan was capable.

She sighed and shifted in her seat for the thousandth time, and Cora who sat in the seat nearest Regina's desk with budget reports of her own glared at the twitchy woman. The Savior loathed sitting still for more than two minutes, and Regina almost released her to go obtain their lunch from Granny's before her mother commented on the consistent but unintentional interruptions. Emma hadn't been bred for Council. Captain of the Guards suited her much better, yet Regina only stared instead of releasing her.

Every time she opened her mouth to speak, her guts twisted into knots at the thought of letting the reckless blonde out of her sight. Emma nearly died two nights ago, and Regina hadn't spoken to her since the following morning. The Savior managed to restrain herself from breaking anything else, but she'd remained silent for two days, to her at least. She heard the whispering cadence of Astrid's voice through the wall, but the moment she entered the room, Emma's teeth clamped shut upon sight and anger flickered in her eyes.

No amount of kindness or bribery snuffed the flame in those green eyes. The Savior had simply given up, accepted her role, and awaited her orders, which she followed wordlessly. It ripped at the newly found emotions that Regina barely tread, sucking small breaths of air between the rapids, just as Emma physically did because she fell off a cliff. Regina dropped her pen and glasses, catching her head in her hands, pulling lightly at her hair to soothe herself with the sharp stabs of pain.

"Miss Swan," she barked and raised her head abruptly. Emma glanced up and then stood, crossing the room without speaking. Regina studied her for a moment. A rapid pulse banged against the inside of her neck, and Regina wondered if Emma actually retained that much anger or if she fought an internal battle to remain placid and silent. She couldn't have simply stopped caring, no matter what Regina had done to her.

"Miss Lucas has not had a representative of The Crown on her worksite in 48 hours. Please take Horace and retrieve an update," Regina ordered her pet. Emma nodded and strode towards the door without cracking a smile or breathing a sound.

Regina rolled her eyes at herself for feeling the need to say more than she had and stood abruptly. "Emma," she called so quietly that Cora actually glanced up from the budget report her daughter forced upon her.

The Savior stopped and spun to the side but hadn't turned completely to look at her. Regina allowed the small show of disrespect, knowing Emma probably hadn't meant to irritate her. She had never been taught any better. Despite her royal lineage, Emma was a commoner, one whose faith in her she'd damaged almost beyond repair. She was being righteously punished with silence for crossing a line that Emma wasn't able to forgive yet. Even the love spawn of Snow White and Prince Charming broke after a certain amount of abuse, and the thought of losing the detestable commoner churned her stomach uncomfortably.

Floundering, The Queen only stared at her pet. She wanted to say so many things, but nothing in her mind slid onto her tongue. "Return before dinner," Regina finally granted permission to her absence for the rest of the day when nothing else came forward. Emma's face softened at the meaningful present her mistress offered. It was the first time they'd really been parted except for sleeping, but they were still in the same building. Regina extended an olive branch by acknowledging Emma's need to collect her thoughts away from her presence and influence.

"Always," Emma promised, but the word meant far more than simply agreeing to a curfew. Regina's chest puffed in pride, which quickly deflated when Emma stomped out of her office as though she used her own anger to cover emotions she no longer wanted to feel.

Regina contained her rage long enough for the infuriating woman to close the door and then flung a round, glass paper weight against the wall opposite the door with a shriek of frustration. "Damn her, Mother," Regina cursed Emma.

Cora studied her daughter's frustration, the tightened shoulders, the helpless grief in her bowed face. Regina had not displayed so many emotions beyond the scope of anger since she'd disposed of that useless stable boy. Regina's need to be loved and accepted for who she was, flaws and temper and thoughts included, would eventually be The Queen's undoing. With a stroke of inspiration, Cora thought perhaps she might help that process along.

"Regina, Darling," she cooed as she stood.

"I will not break her, Mother," Regina dismissed what she believed Cora about to say.

The elder touched the back of her hair softly. "I'd not even thought to suggest it, my little queen," Cora assured her falsely, but Regina wasn't able to tell the difference. She'd trained her to be dumbfounded by emotions when she felt them and ignorant when she read them. She was the perfect specimen, if only she hadn't protected her heart against any who wished to use it.

She wrapped her arms around Regina's waist from behind and rested her chin on a tensed shoulder. "Do you believe The Savior capable of making you happy?"

Regina laughed at herself coldly. "I believe her the only one capable of enduring a being that no longer resembles human life," she admitted bitterly. She remembered vaguely the soft stirring of something tender and sweet in her chest when she was a girl, when Daniel lived. She'd not felt so cold her entire life, but by the time The King and Rumpelstiltskin finished with her, she felt only empty, frigid, strong- like a steel box. With Emma, she'd not felt weak even if she exposed herself to the pain The Savior's betrayal. She'd felt human… or at least, at least she thought that's what it should have felt like.

"Oh Regina, my sweet girl, I'm afraid that has been my doing," Cora admitted her role in Regina's creation. It wasn't an apology. It wasn't sincere. But, it was enough to elicit a small gasp from Regina. "I made you too strong for fear of someone taking advantage of your tender heart. You were such a sensitive girl."

Regina turned in her mother's embrace, surprised when Cora held her tightly in a hug. "If you believe you could find your happiness with The Savior, then you need to apologize to her, Darling." She brushed a motherly hand over Regina's hair and touched her face. Had Cora finally seen what she'd saw the moment she set eyes on Emma Swan?

"If I cannot learn to love her, Mommy, then I truly am no longer human and have lost the ability to cultivate the feeling," The Queen confided to the one person who had always remained loyal and present. Who else would she have asked to teach her about love and loyalty but the one person who had shown it unconditionally her entire existence?

"You must find the apology that works, darling. Perhaps releasing Rumpel's trollop early would earn you respect from that stubborn woman?" Cora suggested, and Regina's eyes lit up.

"Yes, of course, she adores Miss French," Regina gush excitedly. "Do you think it will make her happy?"

Cora smiled and inclined her head. "I do."

Regina flung her arms around Cora's neck spontaneously. "Thank you, Mother," she whispered into her ear, and Cora almost conjured a knife to slit her throat then and there.

"Of course, my little queen, Mommy will always be here to help you," she promised and touched Regina's hair as she pulled out of the embrace. "I love you, Regina."

Tears glazed Regina's dark eyes. That magical phrase diminished any chance that Regina saw beneath the façade to the blatant lie beneath. She'd always been so easy to manipulate. "Mother," she choked. "I love you, too, Mommy."

Cora nodded once, acknowledging the disgusting sentiment, and then pushed Regina towards the door. "Go release your savior's friend," she instructed, barely maintaining her hopeful jubilee at Regina's supposed revelation.

The door closed behind Regina, and Cora's face fell dramatically. "For you shall need all the help you can acquire."

Regina snagged Graham's arm before the door clicked shut behind her and flew apart in transport. He glanced around the prison in confusion but said nothing as his mistress blew past the guards and into the holding area, stopping in front of Belle's cell. The prisoner stood from her mattress slowly, crossing her arms over her chest to hide the trembling in her hands.

"Majesty," she greeted and bowed her head.

"Good morning, Miss French," Regina returned the insincere greeting. With a wave of her hand, Belle's ugly prison frock turned into the blue dress she'd bought from Ms. Ginger, complete with straightened hair and clean skin. Regina was far too excited and determined to allow her a proper bath.

Upon Belle's twisted confusion, Regina said, "Due to extenuating circumstances, I have ended your sentence 10 days prior to the assigned date."

Belle gasped as she stepped towards the door. Regina waved a hand and opened it. Belle savored the moment with a rejuvenating deep breath and stepped into the aisle with a faint tap of her heels. The moment she stepped within Regina's reach, they flew apart, materializing at the work site. They both took a moment to adjust to the roar of heavy machinery and the buzz of saws.

Ruby and Emma tag teamed a tree with chainsaws, removing excess branches and nubs as best they could. Both wore protective muffs over their ears, leather gloves, and determined expressions. Regina walked closer, unmoved by any of the happenings, but Belle stared in wonder. She'd never seen anything quite so wonderful as motorized machines for the purpose of cutting and trimming trees. The wind hit their backs, and Belle shivered in the low temperature that tore through her dress as though it wasn't there. Ruby stopped abruptly, the wind carrying the scent of her half-sister and her almost-lover to her sensitive nose.

She killed the saw and dropped it to the ground before ever turning around to confirm with her eyes what her nose already told her. Regina observed the dramatic changes in Belle's posture and expression. Her eyes glazed with tears when Ruby spun slowly to look at her. She blinked them away rapidly as a smile stretched on both of their mouths.

"Belle!" Ruby called and sprinted down from the row of logs she and Emma had been cleaning. Emma watched from the slight incline with her hands on her cocked hips.

"Ruby," Belle choked and walked out to meet the wolf's frantic sprint. They collided audibly. Tears fell and whispers passed between them, but no one would have heard them without Ruby's super ears.

Emma grinned at the reunion and wiped a tear with the inside of her shirt, the only place not covered with sawdust. Regina watched her above the heads of the should-be lovers and clasped her hands in front of her hips until her joints ached. Ruby apparently noticed the yearning gaze, and a soft hand fell on Regina's arm from around Belle's waist.

"Regina," she whispered, and Belle jerked back at the informal title, expecting some sort of backlash. Regina only studied the waitress curiously and waited. "It won't be enough, but it's a good start. If you want her forgiveness, just be patient and don't get angry that this isn't enough."

Regina nodded, trusting Ruby because her mother had said almost the same thing. It must be right, if it was repeated, right? She internalized the conversation and watched Ruby take her flannel shirt off and wrap it around Belle's shoulders. By that time, most of the crew had stopped and greeted Belle. Everyone knew of Ruby Lucas' endeavor to free the timid woman, though not many knew why. They'd know soon enough, Regina thought silently as a smile spread slowly on her lips.

"To the diner!" Ruby yelled, unable to contain the contagious energy rolling from her. "We have to celebrate," she said in a much lower voice, practically dripping it into Belle's ear.

Regina held herself stiffly while the procession filed past her. She expected nothing less than averted gazes and tense shoulders. So when Ruby turned around with Belle tucked tightly beneath her shoulder and yelled, "I'd be honored if you'd join us, Your Majesty," she recoiled with shock.

Before she responded, Ruby and Belle turned to lead the crowd to their celebration lunch. Regina followed the crowd with her eyes but made no movement to follow. No one actually wanted her company. They felt obligated to tolerate her because she'd given them a slice of kindness. She ripped her eyes away and slowly turned them towards the hill where Emma had been standing.

She gasped when Emma appeared in front of her suddenly. "Are you going?" Emma asked gruffly, obviously making an effort to be civil.

"Will you escort your mistress?" Regina asked politely, or what she thought was polite, not daring to hope. Hope brought expectation, and that only ended in disappointment.

She must have gotten her tone correct because Emma held out her arm. Though she never smiled, something danced in her savior's eyes that she wasn't able to identify. "Always," Emma repeated one of two things she'd said to her in two days.

Regina took her arm and tucked into her body snugly, fighting the chill of the wind with the warmth of Emma's body. Ruby was right. This was a start, not a solution, but it felt good. It felt good to be good. It felt good to make her little sister happy. And, it felt good to touch Emma Swan again. She knew not why, but Regina Mills knew that she felt good.


	32. Freedom

Couple things: (1) 2Lazy2signin, normally, I don't like to criticize reviews as I generally absorb opinions without judgment, but I did used to be a teacher and cannot stand idly by on this one. Please use "The Google" to look up the definition of half-siblings. In short, 23 of the 46 chromosomes required to create an embryo come from one donor while the other 23 are from a different source, which means that a man who produces two children with two different women has helped create half-siblings. I'm hoping this was an honest mistake or a joke of some sort and not an archaic, misogynistic, patrilineal statement of opinion. Otherwise, you probably loathe my Female Gothic style of concocting these tales. (P.s. Next time sign in and the science lessons won't have to be public.)

(2) Artist97, haha! yes, I do have the ending planned. Last time I got lazy and skipped on a complete plot frame, I did something positively stupid, like put Emma and Regina into a dreamscape that I now have to figure out how to get them out of without destroying my series. (*headesk* Why did I DO that!) I cannot tell you how many chapters there will be. I plan in plot points rather than pigeonhole my imagination into fully planned chapters, so some of them take only one chapter while others take several because of character development, such as the previous chapter 2-3 chapters. I'm taking my time right now because I'm in a tangled web of loose ends (aka somewhere in the middle-ish of the story), so I don't want to miss any.

Now, to the fun stuff! "Pull the lever Kronk!"

Enjoy, My Doves, and bless you for the reviews and follows!

Song: Boom Clap by Charli XCX

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><p>After the millionth hand shake, Belle decided that she'd had more than enough of the giant crowd at Granny's. Apparently, the celebratory lunch was not nearly enough for the citizens of Storybrooke. They'd organized an actual party that evening, complete with cake that read "Welcome to Freedom" and streamers and more people than the diner could hold. Many of them had spilled into the outside seating area to continue drinking and talking and laughing. She'd heard far more dirty jokes than she'd ever wanted and more rumblings about the potential breaking of the curse through The Queen's new pet than she thought possible. Emma wasn't a pawn, she was a person, and if her earlier demeanor indicated anything, she wasn't thrilled with the arrangement.<p>

She felt bad for the blonde stranger who seemed to know and care so much about her and Ruby. The more she heard, the higher her anger soared. Overwhelmed by the stimulation and her rapidly cycling thoughts, she slipped out the back door, practically undetected by the boisterous crowd. When she shivered again, she thought she should have gone back inside, but the stars called to her louder than the obnoxiously rumbling swarm of citizens inside who knew her about as well as they knew The Queen. They came because they were loyal to Ruby and needed a sliver of hope to cling to in this bleak existence.

"Hey," Ruby called softly, startling her from her thoughts. She grinned over her shoulder and rubbed her arms to generate heat in the rapidly falling temperature.

"Hello, Ruby," she returned and tipped her face towards the dark sky lit with dots and clusters of stars beginning to appear. Her body trembled again, but the thought of returning to the massive crowd sent her heart thumping into hyper drive. She was most certainly not ready for such gatherings, not after living in solitude for three decades. She'd not been particularly fond of them before living in isolation. She much preferred the company of her books than people.

Warm hands touched her shoulders, squeezing gently before trailing over the pimpled flesh of her arms. Belle gasped and shivered for an entirely different reason, unconsciously leaning into the strong wolf behind her. She thought for a moment that Ruby intended to kiss her neck when breath puffed so forcefully against sensitive skin, but strong arms circled her waist loosely and Ruby's cheek pressed against the side of her head.

"You're freezing and you shouldn't be out here by yourself," Ruby cautioned her. She'd explained the importance of never venturing off alone to Belle earlier in that day, but clearly it'd made no difference. It mattered little when Ruby kept an ear in her direction at all times and knew the moment she'd slipped out the back door.

"I was suffocating around all of those people. The prison was always very quiet," she explained and rested her head on Ruby's collarbone. Usually, people made her nervous, but she'd felt instantly comfortable with the wolf and felt indescribable joy that they retained that quality now that she was free. Ruby's energy was very unobtrusive, gentle and supportive instead of overbearing and judgmental.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know it was going to be this big or I never would have agreed to it. Want me to send everyone home?" She should have known that Belle wouldn't have been comfortable, but folks were happy. The Queen actually issued a decree that made people happy instead of miserable, and they wanted to celebrate. It was less about Belle and more about them. Her party had suddenly been turned into 'The Queen's not a bitch for once in her life' party.

"No, everyone deserves a little bit of happiness," she commented dreamily and trailed her fingers along Ruby's forearm. "It's been so long since I've seen the stars."

Ruby squeezed her just a bit tighter and nuzzled the hair just above her ear. "Do you remember the constellations from the book I brought you a couple years ago?" Belle answered with a shiver that Ruby assumed had nothing to do with the stars if the suddenly rapid thumping of her heart indicated anything. She loved that she could hear Belle's heart without pressing an ear to her chest. It soothed her.

"Of course, I remember them," Belle answered as though nothing had changed within her. She pointed towards the shimmering blanket above them, now dark enough to see thousands of little gas balls burning brightly. "That fellow is Orion. In this world's mythology, he was the son of a sea god named Poseidon. Another Goddess, Artemis killed him and turned him into a constellation."

Ruby snorted at the parallel to her own existence. "Sounds like my life."

Belle squinted up at her, but when Ruby offered no further comment, she circled in the embrace and wrapped her arms around Ruby's neck. "What's bothering you? You've been cryptic and evasive since Emma Swan arrived in this timeline."

The wolf sighed deeply and kissed her forehead. "My life is far more complicated and precarious than anyone knows," she whispered against Belle's skin. She knew that she shouldn't lead her on, make her feel more than she already had.

The back of her hand traced lovingly over the wolf's face, and she watched the warring emotions dance over the Ruby's face. "Let me share your burden," Belle whispered.

"Belle," Ruby breathed. How the hell was she supposed to live with a woman she could barely keep her hands off of.

Belle held her face tenderly with both hands, thumbs brushing over her cheekbones absently. Ruby's fingertips dug into her lower back momentarily and then released as Ruby controlled her emotions and actions. When a soft pressure pulled her head lower, Ruby allowed it. Belle's lips ghosted across hers, as if she were afraid to destroy everything by displaying the passion that so violently ripped through her veins.

"I'm sorry," she whispered and touched Ruby's lower lips with three fingertips. "I just wanted to know what that felt like."

"And?" Ruby teased, turning the moment into a joke before she lost herself in it.

"Ruby," Belle groaned in frustration. She'd fantasized about this moment for ten years, and now it finally came, it only felt guilt-addled and tarnished because Ruby's marriage. "The fault, Dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves, that we are underlings," she murmured.

"Dr. Seuss?" Ruby threw out on a whim. She only wanted Belle to smile, which she did.

"Ruby Lucas, that is William Shakespeare," Belle sniped, playfully frustrated by the mistaken identity of the author. Belle loved her books more than anything, maybe even her. Ruby smirked.

"Which explains why I have no idea what you just said," she aggravated Belle for the hell of it. She always got so worked up about her books.

Belle sighed melodramatically. "It means that our fate is not what drives us but the human experience, our desires and ambitions more than a predestined plot of events."

Ruby's good mood fell so quickly that her chest lurched. "Meaning I destroyed a chance to figure out if we are soul mates because of my decision to be loyal to my husband and the people." The words left a bitter taste in her mouth. They'd danced around this very conversation for nearly a decade. She'd never thought Belle would be free.

"It's an honorable decision, Ruby. One that I support without question." She smiled up at the wolf and tucked a strand of brown hair behind her ear. "I only wanted to experience your kiss."

Ruby smirked and slid a sensual hand around the back of her neck. "Then I should make it a really good one," she reasoned and lowered her lips to Belle's. They fitted firmly together, confident and sure, unlike Belle's exploratory graze a moment before.

Ruby held perfectly still for a few seconds, adjusting, savoring. Belle surprised both of them and moved her lips first. A bold tongue demanded entrance into her mouth, and Ruby felt powerless to stop the permission she granted. Belle's wet heat combined with hers, desperate muscles searching for dominance. Belle moaned, and Ruby answered by digging fingers into her hips and pulling her closer.

Feeling Belle's hands on her ass, Ruby fell from the sky and into their reality. She'd reached the point of no return and couldn't decide which way she wanted to run. Peter hadn't touched her in at least two years, and though this world offered a wonderful selection of toys meant for sexual pleasuring, it just wasn't the same as having warm body writhing beneath her in ecstasy. Belle wasn't some random person, though. Belle was the person she'd fallen in love with over the last ten years. That made it worse.

"Stop, Belle," she whispered against her lips but pressed downwards for another heated kiss. Belle, however, heard the desperate plea and pushed against her shoulders gently.

"What is it, Ruby?" She asked, holding a thumb on Ruby's lower lip to keep hers from reattaching though her eyes could look nowhere else.

"I don't want you to be the other woman. I want to do this right. I love you," Ruby stated firmly. Belle already knew it, but hearing the words aloud elicited a small gasp. Suddenly, her eyes weren't able to find Ruby's fast enough.

"I love you, too," she returned easily. "I don't care if you're married. You haven't been happy with Peter as long as I've known you, and I couldn't care less what people think of me." What she wanted and what they needed were quickly becoming the same thing, and though she'd promised Ruby that her friendship was enough, her body and heart jerked and stuttered to think they'd never be more.

"Belle, please, stop. I have to set an example for the people, which means I cannot have my marriage abolished and ship my husband off to The Queen's Army and then immediately jump into bed with someone else," Ruby sniped without meaning to, but Belle endured it with patience and understanding. Ruby stressed far more than anyone knew.

"Peter went to The Queen's Army?" Disbelief laced her words, but Ruby nodded, confirming the statement.

"I sent him there," Ruby admitted sadly. Guilt ate her from the inside out for taking that decision from her husband's hands, but she truly feared for his safety. Belle only gazed up at her with accepting eyes and waited for Ruby to continue.

"The day after he tried to attack you at the hospital, I went to Regina to find out where we could start cutting. She offered the solution to my problem by taking him into her army, and I accepted. I wish I could say that it was a selfless decision to save his life, but honestly with everything happening right now, I really needed a break from his insanity. She's taking the entire blame for it," Ruby finished quietly. It felt wonderful to confide all of this to Belle without fear of someone overhearing as they'd always had in the prison.

"Why would she do that?" Belle asked harshly. Though she knew she'd forgive her eventually, the mere mention of The Queen raised her hackles. She'd locked her away for 30 years for no purpose beyond the fact that Rumpel loved her, even though she'd already left him.

"Belle, my life is so much more complicated than anyone could fathom," Ruby murmured and bumped her forehead to Belle's. She deserved to know the truth of the person she obviously wanted to crawl into bed with, to love. "Regina is my sister. Half, but not like that matters much. We're still family."

As expected, Belle gasped and jerked back to stare into Ruby's kind brown eyes. She said nothing, so Ruby continued, "My mother had an affair with her father while she served as his personal guard. Wolves were often recruited or captured and broken for the purpose because of our superior physicality. My mother volunteered and bargained with Henry to get Granny and my uncle jobs on the estate. It was much better than the poverty she came from."

She bit her lower lip and waited for the inevitable backlash from Regina's most recent prison release. In a totally surprising twist, a smile grew slowly on the shorter woman's lips and her eyes refocused on Ruby's. "Thank you, for telling me, Ruby."

The wolf sputtered, and Belle's smile spread to its threshold. "If she has you secretly on her side and Emma Swan running interference, The Queen may yet change for the better." The world was changing. Emma set it into motion, but people like Ruby kept the momentum with their added weight thrown at the problem.

"You're kind of incredible. Do you know that?" Ruby blurted as her body literally deflated around the tiny woman's. Belle laughed and held the wolf upright.

"I've suspected it for some time now," Belle joked, and Ruby pulled back with a raised eyebrow. "I'm also quite modest. They're my two most attractive qualities." It was Ruby's turn to laugh with restraint. How the hell had she gone from depressed to normal within two weeks? Because Emma was The Savior, and she changed everything the moment she arrived in this timeline. She owed her far more than gratitude for her continued loyalty to Regina; Belle's life was in her hands, and she delivered beautifully.

"Come on," Ruby said and tucked her charge beneath her arm again. "You have a fantastic view of the stars from your room. It's much warmer and safer."

Belle leaned her head into the wolf's strong shoulder. One hand wrapped around her hip possessively and the other splayed over Ruby's flat stomach. They bypassed the crowd by using the back entrance to the inn and climbed the stairs. By the time they reached Belle's room, an awkward silence descended, and Ruby fidgeted anxiously, unsure how to end the night.

"You could come in," Belle suggested, trying to keep the yearning from her voice. Ruby heard it anyway.

"I can't," Ruby whispered and buried her fingers in Belle's slightly frizzy hair.

"I want you to," Belle countered and leaned into the tender caress.

"I want me to, too," Ruby admitted. With a deep breath, she kissed Belle's forehead. "Goodnight," she whispered against Belle's head and then pointed towards to the door across the hall. "I'll be sleeping in there until we find out who tried to kill me. I'm not leaving you alone for one second until those bastards are hanging at Regina's gallows."

Belle nodded and leaned into Ruby, hiding in her neck. The hug stretched far to long to be friendly, and their hands caressed and massaged and worshipped far too much to be explained away by anyone who may have witnessed the interaction. Hips were rubbed. Ribs were squeezed and explored. Sighs of contentment and desire filled the hallway. When it became evident that Ruby lacked the emotional strength to end the embrace, Belle pulled away and slammed her back against the door, fumbling for the knob.

"Goodnight," she whispered and slipped inside before either of them changed their minds. Ruby pressed her hand against the door and rested her head there for a moment. She heard Belle's rapid breaths from the other side, the faint _bang-thump_ of her excited heartbeat. With a deep breath, she gathered her resolve and crossed the hall, blocking Belle's heartbeat with two thick wooden doors.

Cora lowered the looking glass to her vanity slowly. Rage and betrayal flurried in her chest, not because her husband concealed the truth of his affair but because Regina had. She'd never had as much control of her as she assumed if her daughter had kept such a secret from her for 53 years in order to protect her half sister.

She picked up her cell phone and dialed a number from memory, lounging predatorily in the luscious chair. A gruff, accented voice greeted her on the other end, and faint smile touched her lips.

"Mr. Hood, I believe the time has come to complete the task of eliminating my daughter's bishops from the chess board. Miss Lucas and Miss French must die. Ensure you do it properly this time or it will be your head on my pike."

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><p><strong>"WRONG LEVEEEEEEEEEER!" (couldn't resist)<strong>


	33. Patience

So, apparently, this chapter has completely impaired my ability to start the next one because I am so excited about it. That said, I suppose you get it a little early, so that I can stop obsessing over it.

Thank you so much for the reviews and follows! For those grouchy about the lack of SQ in the chapter, there will be a few more RedBeauty-centered chapters because they are such an integral part of the story. Bear with me and find the good in them. :D

Enjoy!

Songs: Perfect by Simple Plan, Vulnerable by Secondhand Serenade

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><p>"Mother, what in hell are you screaming about?" Regina demanded, blowing into the room in the mansion Cora used as her study. It'd been two days since she released Belle French, and Cora's mood spiraled into a dark descent, apparently balancing her increasingly positive mood.<p>

"That cretin has stolen everything!" Cora exclaimed and backhanded a lamp from the desk. Regina flinched at the sound of crashing glass and clanging metal and crossed her arms over her chest to contain her irritation.

"Mother, calm down and explain yourself," Regina said evenly, unbothered by her mother's childish tantrum.

Cora pointed a finger trembling with waning adrenaline from anger at her desk as if Regina would magically interpret her unintelligent form of communication. "That vile creature has taken all of my desk supplies. Pens, notepads, stapler, everything is gone, even the tape dispenser. I cannot find a solitary item required to complete my work this morning!" Cora began muttering beneath her breath and tearing through desk drawers, apparently double checking for her own sanity.

Regina kept one arm wrapped around her waist and propped her elbow in that hand, rubbing her forehead. She almost wanted to laugh. Mason constantly searched for new ways to irritate her mother, and Regina found it more amusing every single time. She hoped that eventually Cora warmed to the boy's playful antics.

"I'll speak with him and have your supplies returned, Mother," Regina promised, her voice wavering in amusement. She truly enjoyed the energy the boy brought to her home. Children always tested her patience in a way that made her want retain it for as long as possible. Maintaining their innocence gave her hope of reclaiming her own, finding what had been taken to make her empty inside. Experiencing the hurricane that was Mason Swan inspired nostalgia for her childhood when Ruby followed her everywhere no matter how many obstacles she threw at the young wolf.

Cora jerked her gaze up so quickly that Regina recoiled from the sudden eye contact. "You find my misery amusing, Regina?"

Though she chuckled on the inside, her mask slid into perfect position. "Of course not, Mother. I'll speak with him," Regina promised and turned to leave her mother to the futile ransacking of her office.

"I'd like to lash him," Cora seethed, and Regina completed a full 360 turn in one fluid motion. Acid burned her veins, and she barely controlled the urge to restrain Cora with her superior magic.

"You shall do no such thing, Mother, and if you suggest such again, you will be required to find alternative lodgings," Regina cautioned the woman who brought the whip upon her back more than she cared to remember. Thankfully, the scars were not easily visible to her own eye, so she rarely thought about the vicious beatings. Mason, however, would never have to know that suffering.

"He is a delinquent, Regina. Honestly, what will your public think when they find out you've adopted your trollop's criminal as a son and potential heir to your throne?" Cora attacked bitterly. Regina knew she hadn't approved from the start, but she'd failed to recognize how savagely she felt towards the boy, even though he was a lovely child.

"I think they'll respect me for helping him," Regina answered honestly, genuinely confused by her mother's question. She'd felt that way far more than usual while speaking with her mother the past two days.

Cora loosed a rancorous bark of laughter, and Regina flinched at the obvious mockery. "With the things you've done, my darling daughter, saving the life of one boy who is not of your original kingdom will not change one simple mind of the rabble from which you desperately seek approval."

Regina flinched, fighting the tears burning the back of her throat. Why was her mother being so cruel after helping her win back Emma's affections so dutifully with helpful suggestions and calls for patience while Emma worked through her anger? "Will I never win your approval, Mother?" She asked in a pathetically lost and searching tone. Nearly everything she'd done since she married the king had been in the quest for her mother's love and pride.

"How can I approve when you've disobeyed my every order since that abhorrent woman arrived three weeks ago?" Cora bit spitefully, her entire body shaking with anger.

Regina raised her chin against the sting of the intentionally hurtful words. "I am The Queen, Mother, and am obligated to obey none." A wash of satisfaction warmed her chest when her mother's eyes widened, and she sputtered at the defiant response to what usually caused her emotionally destitute daughter to beg for forgiveness.

Cora reminded herself of her new plan to manipulate Regina into the position she wanted her and bowed her head. "I fear you've outgrown my usefulness. I only wish to help you, my little queen."

Regina softened. Her mother seemed sincere. Perhaps insecurity had gotten the better of her that morning. After all, she had incorporated many new people into her life in the past three weeks. Guilt replaced the defiant gratification in her chest, and Regina stepped towards her mother, placing an affectionate hand on her cheek.

"A woman always needs the guidance of her mother, even a queen," she comforted her elder gently, and Cora slowly raised her head.

"I worry about you, Regina. You've allowed these people into your life, and I fear they will hurt you, like The King and Snow White," she twisted the knife of insecurity and doubt in her daughter's heart, watching the wheels of both turn in those repulsively compassionate brown eyes.

Regina shook her head after a moment, clearing the planted thoughts. "I do not believe Emma means me harm, and Mason is ignorant of our world, Mother."

"Harm you? Oh my darling girl, can you not see how see how she is using your affections towards her to manipulate events to her purposes? You've already made a binding deal with the wolf and released one of your most prized political prisoners," Cora sprinted towards the gold medal of mind games.

"Mother, I released Miss French at your urging," Regina countered. Confusion blossomed in her eyes, and Cora smiled wickedly on the inside.

"Well, yes, of course, but you'd already signed a contract at Miss Swan's behest. I only urged you to release her a few days early, Darling. I couldn't bear to see you so miserable. That's why I had to kill Daniel, remember? I hadn't known of your involvement when I accepted The King's proposal." She touched Regina's hair, soothing away the pain of her lost love. She focused her thoughts on the insipid stable boy and away from Ruby Lucas.

She'd known the wolf was important to her daughter from Regina's tender and yearning gazes when she believed no one observed her but not why until she'd taken it upon herself to uncover the truth. Eyes could be incredibly useful as reflective surfaces for magical looking glasses, and the stars shone so brightly in the icy blue orbs of Rumpel's trollop. One conversation gave her everything she needed. Once she located the contract with the wolf's signature condemning her husband to Regina's army and framed Regina for Emma Swan's murder, no one stood between her and the throne and the kingdom she'd always deserved. With Rumpel at her side, no one dare question her authority. Suddenly, everything she'd ever wanted seemed possible.

"He was foolishly in love with you, and what boy in his right mind wouldn't have been?" She smiled lovingly, cementing the compliment. "The King would have tortured him until his body finally gave out for attempting to take you from his castle. You know how his temper flared when he felt something threatened his virility."

Regina nodded. She'd been on the receiving end of that anger more often than she cared to admit, especially when he blamed her for never having a male heir. "Why have you waited this long to tell me, Mother? You're right, his death at your hands was far better than the wrath of my husband."

Cora jerked The Queen into what seemed an emotional embrace. "Oh my sweet girl, it kills me inside that I ever caused you that kind of pain."

Regina returned the hug tightly and trailed her fingers softly in her mother's light brown hair cascading down her back. "I killed father to cast the curse. We have both taken love from the other," Regina reminded her. The only reason she'd been able to go through with the curse that day was the blinding strength Cora gave her by pissing her off. She'd wanted to hurt her the way Cora had hurt her, but the guilt that followed the loss of her father ate her slowly from the inside.

"Oh my darling, I have forgiven you already, you needn't apologize more," Cora cooed into The Queen's ear and rolled her eyes. Why Regina sought to be held while she was upset was beyond her threshold of understanding.

"Mother, Emma inspires the same warmth in my chest that I have not felt since Daniel's death," Regina confided, and Cora nearly growled at the admission.

If The Savior broke the curse, she'd never wrench power from Regina's hands. She erroneously believed Regina sought love in the wolf when she should have ordered the attack on Emma Swan, and now Regina had slipped too deeply into The Savior's clutches to be recovered. She wanted Regina at her side. She, too, understood Regina's loneliness and desperate search for someone who loved her faults and flaws as much as her intelligence and ambition. Since Regina was a child, she'd fulfilled that role, worshipping the ground at her feet and accomplishing the most heinous of acts in order to gain her approval. Emma Swan took her slowly, but the new knowledge of Ruby's heritage fanned the scorching betrayal that she'd never really had her.

Regina was her weakness, and now she must carve that weakness out of her chest to maintain control and power.

"Then we must ensure she cultivates the same feelings towards you, my sweet girl," Cora stated with so much conviction that she almost fooled herself into believing the words. "Go, now, I'll find my supplies on my own."

Regina nodded and left the embrace quickly. She called Astrid and entered her office before the girl ever arrived from retrieving Emma's breakfast tray. She scribbled quickly on a piece of her stationary and concealed the words with a tri-fold and completed it with an elegant "Miss Swan" on the outside. Astrid smiled knowingly but took the note without a word and scurried upstairs quickly.

Emma was just pulling a tank top over her head when she arrived. "Emma," she hissed and practically tossed the tray down on the desk. Snatching the note, she flitted to The Savior and presented it with both hands. "The Queen wrote you a note," she elaborated needlessly. Emma recognized that loopy script anywhere.

Astrid watched the different emotions spark and fade on Emma's face as she read the note gripped tightly in trembling hands. "Well? What does it say?"

Emma glanced up at her without raising her head and then read the note again silently before taking a deep breath. She wasn't sure how she felt about it. Maybe Astrid provided some sort of insight. "It says: Emma, will you teach me how to say I'm sorry?"

Astrid's eyes glazed over with unshed tears and a wide smile spread on her lips. "You're changing The Queen, Emma. You should forgive her. She's been obsessing over what happened for a week. It's eating her from the inside out."

Emma plopped onto the bed and held the letter between her knees, unable to take her eyes from it. A part of her wanted to, but she'd opened herself up to Regina once before, and the resulting burn still cut a path across her heart. She understood that Regina had issues, but she struggled with vulnerability and commitment, too. How was she supposed to put herself in that position again? Had she not worn that stupid bracelet, she'd have run away by that point. Because that's what Emma Swan always did, she ran when things felt scary emotionally. She'd never really been whole to begin with, so giving small pieces of herself away asked far too much. Yet, no matter how she tried, she simply failed to let Regina go.

So, she decided to do nothing, not yet, not that day. She wasn't ready for either choice. No matter how romantic that note was, Regina had broken something she wasn't sure they could fix. She stared at the question on The Queen's letterhead and stayed silent. She stared until Astrid gave up and left the room, and then stared some more. She stared until a soft knock at the door startled her from her racing thoughts and pounding heart.

"Yeah," she called and folded the note along the carefully made creases.

The door opened slowly to reveal Regina on the other side. She clasped her hands in front of her hips and hesitantly entered the room in a black and dark blue dress that hugged her waist and dipped into a modest V at her breasts. At the top of the garment, a black choker snapped around Regina's throat, making it all the more tantalizing. A smirk tugged at her lips as she remembered the original Regina wearing the same exact dress shortly after she and Henry returned to Storybrooke after a year of separation.

"You've not eaten," Regina finally spit out after a full minute of an awkward staring contest.

"Not hungry," Emma tossed back.

"Very well," Regina accepted the response easily and readjusted her shoulders. "Mason has just departed with his guard and my trainer to the stable for his first riding lesson. I have an engagement in town. Would you accompany me to the convent?"

Emma nodded and grabbed her red leather jacket. Regina jacked a disapproving eyebrow at the garment but held her tongue, and Emma rewarded her by leaving the note on the bed and offering her arm without having to be asked. Regina slid both hands around a leather-clad bicep instead of Emma's forearm. Emma said nothing about the more intimate contact, so neither had she.

Halfway to the convent with Graham and Horace trailing behind several feet, Regina finally broke the silence. "I was taught that a queen owned her decisions, no matter the consequence to others. She must never apologize lest she seem weak or vulnerable in some way, leaving herself open to be taken advantage of by any clever enough to concoct a brilliant scheme."

Emma stayed quiet but met Regina's gaze for an extended gaze. Encouraged that Emma listened, Regina continued, "I understand the reasoning behind such a lesson now. Admitting a wrongful act and asking forgiveness has left me at your mercy, Miss Swan, and I am not certain I could deny you one request should you ask."

Emma snorted and stared straight ahead. "I'm not asking you for anything," The Savior defended herself with the strain of anger in her voice. Fucking Cora got inside Regina's head again.

"Daniel never asked, either," Regina confessed softly, shocking Emma enough to trip on her own boot and stumble forward a step. Regina hid a smirk by casting her eyes towards the ground and reclaimed Emma's arm in her hands.

"I miss him, still, so many years later," she continued so quietly that Emma strained to hear her. "I think I miss the thought of him more than the man, but he slips into my mind occasionally."

"How do you cope?" Emma asked, unsure why exactly Regina felt the need to share this with her.

"I partake in a lot of activities that are meaningless save the physical exhaustion they provide, and I find comfort in the knowledge that sometimes I can make someone truly understand the hollowness in my heart. Somehow it hurts less," Regina explained in general terms, but Emma realized immediately that she referred to her dalliance with the female guard.

"That doesn't excuse what you did, Regina. You're not the only one scared of her own emotions. You have no idea what it took for me to say what I said," Emma barked, unfeeling, which was much worse than yelling or crying in Regina's opinion. She'd dissociated from the event and the emotions attached to it.

Regina glanced up the stairs leading to the convent doors. "I have realized that it is not a viable excuse anymore. I'm done making excuses, Emma," she stated with a conviction that seemed resolved and sincere. Emma remained silent in case Regina volunteered more information.

She led Emma up the stairs and paused at the door. "I wanted your help with this project because I thought it'd make you happy," she admitted shyly and pushed the doors open.

Inside the front hall that lead towards the giant common room, two rows of bags sat on either side of the hall. Graham and Horace each grabbed two and followed the women into the common room where cots and food stations and play areas had been set up. There must have been 50 people packed in the room, and every single one fell silent when Regina stepped thru the door like she owned the place. She held up a hand to Emma and Horace and then stepped into the center of the room with Graham and his two bags.

Regina glanced around nervously and then leaned over and dug through the giant black trash bag. When she straightened, she held a new baby doll in her trembling hands. As she strode towards the crowd, she waved a hand and the package disappeared. Emma nearly had a conniption when Regina squatted to the level of a child no more than three years old and held the doll out to her.

The tiny thing with tangled brown hair and big green eyes glanced up at the woman holding her hand, presumably her mother. The woman eyed Regina suspiciously but nodded her consent, too scared to refuse a gift from The Queen. The girl snatched the doll and hugged it to her chest.

"Thank you," she told Regina and then flung a tiny arm around her neck for a sloppy toddler hug. The room swelled with a gasp.

A faint smile tugged at Regina's lips, and she wrapped one hand around the girl's back. "You're welcome," she whispered, and the gasp released into the room in a relieved sigh.

Regina released the girl and glanced around the room again. "Come, there's plenty more," she informed the now vibrating children who all wanted a new toy. A swarm surrounded The Queen, much to the horror and dismay of the parents unable to control their children's excitement.

Regina loosed a throaty laugh, loud and genuine, and took her time to remove each package with magic before handing the toy over to another child. Some hugged her. Others were afraid because they were older and knew who The Evil Queen was, but they all took a toy. A cry of excitement erupted when she wiggled her fingers and a doll mounted a stuffed pony and rode around the room above their heads with a trail of red sparks behind them.

The children clapped and begged for more, and Regina smiled bashfully. Emma's heart swelled, and she found herself unable to do anything but observe the woman with the supposed cold, blackened heart give in so easily to the demands of the orphaned and homeless children of Storybrooke. She made little magical fireworks while dolls danced and trucks puffed magical exhaust. All the while, that beautiful laugh echoed on the block walls of the common room in the convent above the joyous sounds of happy children.

This wasn't part of her apology. This was Regina being the person she had always been capable of being, and within five minutes, she'd already made amends to the citizens of Storybrooke affected by the fire. She'd given their children joy and hope and a magic show that proved magic could be used for good as well as evil, depending on the person wielding it. She'd finally begun the journey towards redemption without her influence.

Emma covered her wildly pounding heart with one hand as if the gesture might have calmed it. If the magic-containing bracelet failed in that moment, the children may have really gotten a fireworks show from the swell of love throbbing in her chest. It may not have been enough to let Regina back in, but Emma felt the tug towards her dark partner once more. She wanted to, despite the fear of betrayal.

And, when Emma Swan wanted something, she always found a way to make it happen.


	34. Feel

Thank you so much for the reviews and follows, My Sweets! You're all so beautiful that I almost feel guilty for jerking your hearts around for my amusement. *wicked grin*

Huge *nuzzle* to pixip53 for the assist on this one. You give the best edit suggestions that just make my writing so much richer. I appreciate you so very very much. Probably wouldn't have posted anything this past week while my grandpa was getting his surgery without your help, so everyone else better appreciate you, too. You're the best.

Enjoy!

Song: For the Nights I Can't Remember by Hedley, Fall for You by Secondhand Serenade

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><p>Emma happily tucked Regina against her as they left the convent. Regina practically glowed after her two hour visit with the homeless and orphaned children of Storybrooke. Emma hadn't thought it possible for this version of Regina to smile so brightly for so long. Her facial muscles must have ached with the effort of retraining them, yet The Queen held the expression most of the slow, silent walk back to the mansion.<p>

"We must do that every Saturday," she finally said and glanced up at Emma. "Will you come with me?" The timid hope in Regina's eyes caught her off guard, and Emma floundered for a moment.

She nodded when no words came, and an almost painful smile spread on her cheeks. Regina averted her gaze to the path ahead of them, and Emma felt her chest move again with breath. The Queen had completely stolen her heart again, and Emma wanted her to have it, even if she couldn't give it. She was scared. Regina burned her more deeply than she'd ever been touched before, and she'd spent the past week obsessing over it because she was unable to let it go.

"You're cheeks are going to get huge," Emma murmured, and Regina jerked her gaze back to hers violently.

"I beg your pardon," she exclaimed indignantly.

Emma chuckled at the outburst. "You're smiling so much that your face muscles are going to look like a squirrel packing away nuts if we do this every week," she clarified for the befuddled queen.

Regina's brows crinkled at the incredulous remark, but a smile spread slowly on her cheeks. "Then I shall be a squirrel," she returned with a tentatively amused tone.

Emma laughed out loud. "Was that a joke? Did Ice Queen Regina Mills make a joke?" The Savior guffawed, waving her arm in a grand gesture as though she announced the event to the world.

"I'm not certain it was funny," Regina criticized, confounded by the concept of humor. Her smile grew to match Emma's, though, and then her gaze dropped bashfully as though she shouldn't have displayed such blatant emotions.

"Don't," Emma said, suddenly serious, and stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. She tipped Regina's chin upwards until those caramel brown eyes leveled with hers. "You're so beautiful when you smile. You shouldn't hide it."

Heat flushed her cheeks, and without Emma's firm hold on her jaw, her head would have dropped once more. "Mother does not think it a befitting expression for a queen," Regina said softly, her words barely occupying the space between them.

Emma snorted. "Your mother also told you to kill me, so I know you don't listen to everything she says," Emma countered with a devious, lopsided grin.

Regina's eyes slipped closed in irritated acquiescence, but the smile grew again on her lips despite her attempt to thwart it. Opening her eyes slowly, Regina gasped at the untamed fire of desire burning in Emma's eyes. Those enchanting green orbs cast a yearning gaze upon her mouth but dropped with gut-jerking speed when they acknowledged Regina's curious gaze upon her face. She nudged Regina's arm, and they moved forward again, leaving the moment upon that square of cement.

"That was a really good thing you did back there, Regina," Emma praised in a quiet, strained voice.

"They are my responsibility," Regina reasoned, unable to view her act as more than that.

Emma rolled her eyes. "That was above and beyond the call of duty. The toys and sticking around to play with the kids. You didn't have to do any of that." A bitter taste fell on Emma's tongue. She knew more about being an orphan and homeless than any person should.

"Mason told me how insufferable his previous homes had been," Regina offered as though it explained everything, and to Emma, it had.

"Yeah, some of the homes they put us in… it's like, have you even met these people?" Emma fumed, instantly angry as a wash of childhood memories she'd shoved deep into her mind surfaced.

Regina searched her heart for what she should have felt. Her chest tightened, and she felt the urge to squirm uncomfortably or possibly touch Emma in a tender way. It confused her more, so she ignored it for the moment and opted for conversation instead. "When we first uncovered Mason's location, you commented at least you'd met Mason in this world. Who was he?" She asked, unsure if her soft tone was correct.

Emma sighed deeply with a disheveled shrug. "I ran away from my last foster home, lived on the streets for a while. Mason found me one night. I guess I passed out from hypothermia or hunger. He was just this old, lonely guy, but he carried me almost a mile to his dilapidated trailer, gave me a warm bed on the floor in front of his wood stove, and a bowl of soup." Emma grew more and more reserved with each word until they finally petered to silent rumination. Regina hadn't a clue how to continue the conversation, so she waited.

After a quiet moment and a deep breath, Emma continued her tale. "I got so freaked out the next morning that I just took off. I thought for sure he was going to rape me or beat me or never let me leave, but he was just a nice guy who took a chance that I'd rob him blind."

"Did you?" Regina asked.

Emma shook her head with a tiny grin. "No, but I thought about it. A few months later, I found myself in the same position, so I went back to his little trailer. He let me in, gave me a bed and a bowl of soup, vegetable beef. I swore he ate it everyday because every time I went back, he always had a pot on the stove." Emma chuckled, her nostalgic grin returning.

It infected Regina, and she let it. "I do hope Mason considers me in such a light," she murmured, turning her face slightly from Emma's gaze. The emotions behind the statement felt too raw, exposed her too much.

"You gave those kids toys because you felt bad about Mason's childhood?" She asked incredulously, daring another glance at the dubious queen.

Regina bowed her head slightly, and said, "Of course not. I am not the cause of Mason's string of horrid living situations. I have no cause to feel guilt for such a thing."

Emma squinted at the evasive queen. Had she just placed blame on Emma for Mason's life? Or… "Did you do this for me?"

Regina sighed dramatically, anger replacing the softer emotions that confused and frightened her. "I simply wanted each orphan in Storybrooke to feel wanted and happy, if only for a moment," she protested as if the words held no personal meaning to her pet.

Emma nearly tripped over a crack in the sidewalk, catching herself before she stumbled again. She'd been wrong, Regina _had _bought those toys and played with those children as an apology. At least, it began that way, but Regina genuinely enjoyed herself. Emma dropped the subject and allowed The Queen's grand gesture to fill her with warmth and joy. Regina had never been taught how to apologize, so she concocted schemes of appeasement, such as the television and this trip to the convent. The Queen simply hadn't planned to be so affected by the experience herself.

"Did you enjoy the morning?" Regina asked carefully, her voice too steady to be casual small talk. She sought not Emma's forgiveness but only to ensure that her surprise brought joy to The Savior.

Emma, however, recognized the altruistic effort for what it was and swallowed the burn of tears. Regina was so child-like, so fragile and inexperienced. "Thank you," The Savior whispered, but Regina straightened her spine and changed the subject. She took Ruby's advice to heart and waited for Emma to return of her own volition, to wait until her pet decided it was enough.

"I'd like you to have lunch with us," Regina pulled from her dark thoughts with the request. She'd not given her an order since the day she'd awoken from her near-death experience. Emma hadn't deciphered why yet.

"What about Mason?" Emma jumped trains of conversation with a little effort. Her day alone in her room offered ample time to mull over Regina's actions and the intentions behind them.

"Mason has been informed of your continued existence. He believes me out of town at the moment retrieving you," she explained with a small smile, inadvertently telling Emma to remain silent about her time in Storybrooke prior to his arrival.

Emma stopped short just before they turned onto Mifflin Street and stared at her mistress with disbelieving eyes. "I thought you were waiting for him to adjust to life here first."

Regina cleared her throat and clasped her hands in front of her hips. She was nervous, Emma deduced and waited patiently. After a moment, she spoke, "He is very resilient, and he's taken to aggravating Mother at every possible opportunity, which indicates the need for further distraction. He took the news quite well."

Emma grinned. "That's my boy," she stated in a proud whisper.

"He won't return from his lesson until noon," Regina said for lack of anything else to fill the uncomfortable silence.

Excitement flowed into Emma's veins, and she jumped up and down in place, dispelling the influx of energy. "I can really see him?" She reiterated for her own sanity. Surely, Regina wasn't cruel enough to dangle such a thing in front of her nose and then wrench it away to punish her for running off with Ruby the night she fell off the cliff.

The thought knocked the wind out of her, and she sobered immediately. Regina's brow furrowed in confusion. She noticed the signs of sadness in her pet's face, the deepened lines about her mouth and eyes, but had given her no reason for such a reaction.

"Of course, you may see him, Emma," Regina reassured her savior. "Lunch will be served at 12:30 to allow him an opportunity to clean up and reunite with you before he eats." She'd planned the day perfectly to minimize the boy's opportunity to electrocute her mother's nerves any further.

"I thought perhaps you may entertain him the remainder of the day," Regina suggested hopefully, and Emma answered with an enthusiastic nod that should have sprained her neck.

"Excellent." Regina smiled. "Mother has opted to work in the Throne Hall this afternoon to avoid the undoubted ruckus the two of you shall create, and I have another engagement that I will partake in during that time." Regina shifted uncomfortably, and Emma's chest twitched again. Was it another surprise she planned to win back her affections?

"And what will that be?" She asked, barely concealing her childish glee. She felt certain with a little twisting and the right pressure Regina gave in and told her.

"I'll be fornicating with Graham in my bedroom," Regina state with a matter-of-fact tone.

Emma whiplashed from the unexpected and inappropriate statement. "What? Why the hell would I want to know that?" She grouched, her good mood sullied by the fresh information. An anvil of disappointment dropped into the bottom of her belly and tears burned the back of her throat. This was a cruel prank.

"So that you do not have to witness such a thing again, and to ensure you and Mason remain downstairs for the duration," Regina explained, slightly confused. Her eyes narrowed, and her head shifted to the side minutely, searching desperately for the reason behind Emma's anger.

Emma took a deep breath and tried to understand Regina's point of view through her own pain. Obviously, switching sexual partners as often as she showered was a thing she'd done for 30-plus years. It wasn't personal, not this time. Regina attempted courtesy, pathetically albeit, but the intentions were good. Of course, spending time with her son distracted her from the liaison when the time came, but in that moment, it still seared another brand of betrayal on her heart.

"Are you not pleased that I told you?" Regina prodded when Emma's silence stretched too long. Her body fidgeted involuntarily. The morning had gone so well. Had her honesty destroyed it?

"It's fine," Emma snapped and started down the sidewalk with her hands pushed deeply in the pockets of her jeans.

"Emma," Regina called, and The Savior stomped to a stop, gritting her teeth. The click of heels on the sidewalk informed her of Regina's approach. "I don't understand your reaction," she admitted with a hint of shame and dropped her gaze to her clasped hands.

Emma sighed again. Regina truly behaved like a child. She had no concept of emotions or how to understand them or read them in other people. "I'm jealous, Regina," she admitted in a dull voice that masked most of her emotions. "You hurt me, but I still can't stand the thought of someone else's hands on you."

Regina's brow crinkled in thought as she digested the information. "I have a biological urge that you cannot or will not fulfill. It's not anything more than that. What difference does it make whose hands satisfy the need? I have never restricted myself since I broke free of The King's control, and I will not subject myself to another's without adequate compensation." Her tone wasn't cruel or angry. Regina explained her perspective factually, and that almost made it worse for Emma.

"Compensation," she repeated. "Is that all sex is to you? A biological urge to be filled? Don't you feel anything? Emotionally, I mean?" While she'd played with many casual partners, she'd never kicked them out of bed or told them they couldn't spend the night. Regina spoke of sex as if it were no different from any other service her subjects provided. They brought her lunch and cleaned her bedroom and got her off. It was all the same in her head.

Regina swallowed, indicating that she'd heard Emma's words, but never raised her gaze from her white-knuckled, aching hands. When Emma figured that she'd not receive an answer, she continued towards the mansion. Regina followed Emma with her eyes, starting at her boots and ascending her body until they rested on Emma's hunched shoulders and bowed head.

An image of that same shock of golden hair splayed over her chest the morning after she'd held Emma burned into her mind. She swore she felt the gentle puffs of air on her neck that indicated Emma slept peacefully in her arms, that she hadn't died in the middle of the night when she'd foolishly drifted off instead of keeping a watchful eye on her charge. The influx of emotions drowned her that morning, and she'd spent nearly every waking hour since then deciphering them. They meant nothing and everything at the same time.

That same panicked, desperate need shook her veins as it had the night they'd nearly consummated their bond. She'd been so out of control that she'd required an orgasm to calm herself enough to properly touch The Savior. The same jolt of fear that shocked her heart when Ruby noticed that Emma wasn't breathing now squeezed it relentlessly. Had she just lost Emma all over again?

"I felt something with you," she whispered, but Emma had bolted out of earshot before the words left her mouth.


	35. Sorry

Briibuh: thanks for the song suggestion. It actually worked so perfectly for this chapter that I used it for inspiration in addition to the song I'd already chosen. If anyone else has songs that remind them of this particular Regina/Emma pairing, please feel free to drop me a line with them. Music inspires me, every single genre.

Enjoy, Lovelies, and thank you so much for the reviews and follows!

Happy Thanksgiving to all the US folks!

Songs: Can't Fall Down by Natasha Bedingfield, Roger Rabbit by Sleeping with Sirens

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><p>"Emma, it's time," Regina said softly through the door. She'd knocked three times but received no response.<p>

With a frustrated huff, she opened the door only to find an empty room. Fear tore through her veins as she bolted to the bathroom. It was dark and empty. With shaking fingers, she pulled out her cell phone and tried to dial Graham's number, but a faint humming stopped her cold. A silhouette formed through the sheer curtain of the window, flooding her system with hot relief.

Respiring almost normally, Regina opened the balcony door easily so as not to startle her pet. They'd not spoken since Emma ran away from her earlier, and Regina's skill of reading emotions fell short of the level required to properly handle this particularly sensitive predicament. Emma Swan buffaloed her brain.

Even more so when she stepped onto the balcony and heard the slow haunting hum of the song she'd sung to her delirious pet the night she'd taken a dive into a freezing river. On some level, Emma remembered that night, despite her inability to bring the memories into her conscious mind. Encouraged, she stepped beside the other woman and set her hands on the railing, pinky nearly grazing the slightly larger one of her pet's.

"I can't get this song out of my head," Emma admitted with a hint of frustration in her voice. "I don't even know where I heard it."

"It's called I am Stretched on Your Grave. It's an Irish ballad of this world, performed by many different artists. I prefer Kate Rusby's version," Regina supplied the identity of the mystery song.

Emma twisted her neck to look at The Queen, but Regina maintained a controlled stare towards the tree line visible from that height. Her face remained irritatingly placid, cutting into Emma more than one of Regina's barbs or lashes. With a deep breath, Regina dropped her gaze to their almost touching hands. A shock of hair fell into her face, shielding her from Emma's piercing stare, protecting her from those stormy green eyes that saw so much more of her than any other.

"I sang it to you that night you fell into the river," she explained in a hushed tone, apprehensive of Emma's reaction. At this point, the blonde was a complete mystery, more because of her inability to discern one emotion from the next than Emma's unruliness or unpredictability.

"You sang to me?" Emma blurted, having expected anything but that out of The Queen's mouth. Regina's shoulders tightened. Obviously, she'd never intended to reveal that fact, and now that Emma knew, she was embarrassed.

"Unfortunately, Graham was not able to track Ruby's assailants. They covered their tracks quite expertly," Regina babbled, uncomfortable with the admission of such tenderness that Emma remembered on some level.

A shaking hand tucked the tress of hair behind Regina's ear, and The Queen's eyes slipped shut as a silent sigh passed through slightly parted lips. She'd missed Emma's tender touches and held perfectly still, terrified that any movement caused another rift between them. What the hell had this woman done to her?

"Regina," Emma whispered. Still she stood paralyzed, unable to even open her eyes. Emma cupped her cheek softly and urged it upwards gently. "Will you look at me?" The plea barely came out in a whisper, but Regina heard her. "Please?"

Brown eyes fluttered as though they struggling to follow the request when Regina's chest heaved so roughly, her mind grappling with itself to maintain the staccato breaths and control her eyes at the same time. Emma swallowed roughly and brushed her thumbs over Regina's cheeks gingerly so as not to spook the woman.

"You told me that I could ask you for anything and you'd give it to me," Emma started, stopped as she lost her nerve, gathered her resolve. "Please don't have sex with Graham."

Anger tore through The Queen. She'd have no need if the damnable savior hadn't raised her stress levels to the point of distraction. "I will not adhere to your jealous demands," she snapped and pushed Emma backwards.

Emma threw her hands in the air and dropped them limply to her sides. "It's not that. Damn it, Regina, can you not see how self-destructive this is? It's no different from you slicing your wrist with a knife!" Emma yelled. Between her own confusing emotions and Regina's constant misunderstandings, she'd begun sliding down the rope of patience once more.

"Why on earth would I cut myself?" Regina countered.

"Of course that's what you focus on," Emma muttered and scrubbed her hands over her face. With a steadying breath, she elaborated, "I'm not saying that you would. I'm saying that this is a method of causing yourself pain because it helps you feel something. I'm going to go out on a limb and say these… encounters are exactly gentle?"

Regina crossed her arms over her chest and glared coldly. "I'm not certain how I satisfy my needs is any of your business, Savior."

"Goddamn it, Regina!" Emma cursed.

The Queen opened her mouth to retaliate, but Emma's forceful kiss swallowed the spiteful retort. Large, soft hands held her face firmly, and Emma maneuvered them until she trapped Regina's body between her and the rail. Need surged through Emma's veins, blocking out the whimpers and the desperate jerking of Regina's hands between them.

Regina wrenched her face to the side. "Stop!" She yelled, paralyzing Emma with her words. "Emma, please stop," she pleaded, voice quivering in fear. The same expression she'd worn after Emma tackled her in the isolation room now etched deeply into her features. Wide-eyed fear and helplessness and blind panic, enough to freeze her magic.

"Shit," Emma muttered and jerked back. "I'm sorry," she apologized quickly. She touched Regina's shoulder, but The Queen flinched and shot lasers through her skull with her eyes. Emma took another step back. She couldn't have cared less if Regina blasted her. Something she'd done had set Regina off. Was she having a flashback or just felt out of control? Emma floundered.

"I'm sorry, Regina. I wasn't thinking. You weren't listening, and I was frustrated. And, I've wanted to do that since that little girl hugged you this morning. And, I'm an idiot." Emma paused enough to take a breath. "Are you okay?"

She raised her hand, fighting the urge to comfort the distraught woman, but stopped short of touching her. Regina watched the melt down with confusion, hyperventilating through the painful thumping of her heart. Emma's reaction baffled her even more. She seemed more upset than Regina and hadn't even seen the decades-old images flashing through her mind.

"Regina, are you okay?" Emma repeated, holding both hands in front of her, ready to catch her mistress if she passed out from the labored breathing.

"That's why you only use your personal guards. You have sex with them because you hold their hearts. They can't…Regina," Emma realized suddenly, not meaning to say the words aloud. Regina's brow furrowed, but still no words slipped off her tongue.

"Regina," Emma whispered and stepped towards her again. The sorceress flinched, but Emma refused to back down. Regina needed a friend right now, and she was determined to be one. "I'd never hurt you like that. I'd never hurt you at all if I could help it," Emma vowed, enticing Regina's eyes back to her own.

"Can I touch you, Regina? Please, I'm so sorry," Emma said for the third time, and Regina cocked her head to the side.

"What does guilt feel like?" Regina asked in a quiet voice. Emma recoiled from the unexpected question, blinking rapidly to assimilate to the new situation. Her brain refused to even attempt to decipher Regina's hidden meanings in that moment. She was far too upset, so she just answered.

"I guess it's different for everyone, but for me, I get a knot in my belly like I'm going to throw up and my chest gets really tight like my heart is being squeezed," Emma explained. It mattered little why Regina asked; all that mattered was that it distracted her from the paralyzing fear that gripped her so suddenly.

"And that is why you are telling me that you are sorry? Because of that feeling?" Regina waded through her confusion. Emma nodded, moving with the flow of the older woman's thoughts.

"Yes. I feel bad because I scared you or hurt you or whatever in the hell just happened. I'm so sorry, Regina. I don't think sometimes," Emma explained desperately. Her hands hovered just above Regina's shoulders. Red grew around her eyes filling with tears. Still, Regina only stared at her like a science project.

As a tear spilled onto her cheek, Regina's hand released its death grip on the rail behind her and raised slowly to catch the droplet on her thumb. Emma's brow bunched, making four thin lines on her forehead. She took her turn to be confused and waited for The Queen to clarify her thoughts and actions.

"And to apologize is the proper response for this feeling in one's stomach caused by guilt?" She continued her line of questions, and Emma nodded softly, not trusting her voice. "Then I am sorry, Emma, for hurting you."

"Regina," Emma breathed. "I…you," Emma stuttered, unable to formulate coherent thoughts. Not only had Regina admitted to feeling guilty, but she actually fucking apologized… with words… to her… in person… sincerely.

A smile spread slowly, and her eyes flicked back and forth, searching Regina's. More tears spilled onto her cheeks, and Regina swiped them away, leaving glistening tracks upon her face. Emma reached for her, stopped herself. Her hands rose again to take the woman into a hug, but Emma forced them to her sides, clutching tight fists in an effort to control them.

Regina saw The Savior's struggle and jerked her hand away suddenly, clearing her throat. She wasn't ready to be touched by Emma Swan again so soon after she'd felt _his_ touch upon her once more because of an idiotic impulse her pet followed. "Mason awaits our arrival," she scratched out, the strain of emotions she couldn't control influencing her voice.

Emma allowed the moment to pass with a long exhalation and a nod of her head. "Okay," she agreed, accepting Regina's need for emotional space. She wiped her tears and stepped aside to give Regina a wide berth to pass her without physically touching her.

By the time they reached the bottom of the stairs, Emma practically vibrated with excitement again. Regina smirked, having seen the very same bubbling energy in The Savior's son. "Emma, remember that his name is Mason here," she instructed quietly and pointed their direction towards the living room.

Emma couldn't even take time to notice the difference in décor. Her eyes locked with the soulful brown of her son, and she froze, awaiting his reaction. She covered her mouth and more tears dripped onto her cheeks. He could have been Henry's twin with slightly longer hair and longer legs. They appeared almost equal in height already. He must have just hit a growth spurt.

"Mom!" He squeaked, his voice cracking with evidence of his young adolescent age.

Emma tried to speak, but nothing came out. She simply opened her arms as the boy rushed forward, slamming into her with an audible thud. Tucking her face into his bony shoulder, Emma shed all of the tears she'd held back since arriving in this hellhole of a timeline. Her son practically mimicked the motion, hiding his own tears that fell much more quietly than his mother's.

"I never thought I'd see you again," Emma whispered into his shirt hoarsely. Mason shook harder against her, and she tightened her grip around his shoulders. "I never stopped looking for you. I never stopped fighting for you," she vowed, saying what she could never say to Henry. It was cathartic.

"I told them it wasn't you," Mason rasped and then sniffled, returning the stronger hug around her waist. His arms had grown so long that they reach all the way to the opposite sides of her waist, cradling her tightly against him.

Regina breathed deeply and touched her chest above her heart. Something burned her eyes suddenly, and she blinked rapidly, trying to dispel the spec of dirt or eye lash that had fallen there. A tickle on her cheeks irritated her enough to wipe her face. She stared at her hand when it came away wet and touched the other cheek with her other hand with the same result. She was crying?

"Regina," Mason called and held out his hand. She glanced between the appendage and the boy's hopeful face and then Emma's tortured one. Slowly, she stepped forward and grasped the hand of The Savior's son, a boy she'd begun to care for as her own.

She squawked indignantly when he jerked her into a three-way hug. Emma shifted to the side, pressing her chest into his shoulder and allowing Regina the other. They'd always hugged Henry this way, never daring to touch the hand or arm of the other. Emma blazed thru that old habit and pushed her fingers into Regina's hair, holding her face tenderly in one hand and Mason's back with the other. Regina's chin quivered over the boy's hair as she barely stood tall enough to make eye contact with her savior. If she felt strong enough to run in that moment, she might have bolted as fast as Emma had that morning.

"You're going to spend the day with us, right Regina?" Henry asked hopefully. Emma swallowed painfully, awaiting the answer as impatiently as her son.

The Queen's gaze dropped slightly to Mason's and then flicked back to Emma's. He had no clue how deeply his question affected both women, what it meant to them. His forehead scrunched together like Emma's when she was confused, and Regina soothed the lines lovingly.

"Of course, my little prince," she agreed with a wet, strained voice.

"Awesome," Mason chirped awesomely. "C'mon, I'm starving," he pulled free from the hug and clomped towards the kitchen. "You were right, Regina. Horses are awesome and good exercise." Regina rolled her eyes at how quickly the teenager became a rabid dog when hungry, just like his fool savior mother.

The two women stared after him a moment and then moved forward as one unit. Regina touched Graham's arm as they entered the foyer, and said softly, "You're services are no longer required today. You may return to your quarters."

Graham nodded and sauntered deeper into the house. Regina clasped her hands in front of her hips, knowing exactly what she'd just given Emma. Power. Control. It terrified her. Emma stepped forward, mindful of the precarious teetering of the situation on an emotional bomb that could have detonated at any moment with only one wrong move. Regina recoiled slightly when Emma raised her arm.

"May I escort you, My Queen?" She asked softly as though Regina's decision altered nothing between them. Regina stared at the arm for several breaths and then raised her eyes to meet Emma's green, made brighter by the tears she'd shed. Sincerity shimmered and glistened there, rimmed with the red of joyous emotion. Regina nodded once and took Emma's arm, following Mason into the dining room.

The slight relinquish of control changed nothing for Emma, for Regina, it changed everything.


	36. Submission

Thank you for the reviews and follows, My Lovelies! Enjoy!

My Song selections were all over the place for this one, but a few of them were Dark Chest of Wonders by Nightwish, Latch by Disclosure, Rock Show by Halestorm

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><p>Emma flopped face first onto her bed. Wet hair from her shower soaked thru the towel covering her back and sent a chill down her spine. Flipping the tangled mop to the side, she rested her cheek on her arms. She should be exhausted, but her brain refused to settle. It happened sometimes when she stumbled into a situation that required too much thought. She'd reached a point of no return that day and blew past it. Now that she'd met Mason, bonded with him, she doubted her ability to ever chose between her two sons.<p>

Grumbling, she pulled the towel over her and scratched at her damp hair. She'd finally broken thru Regina's defenses, saw a glimpse of the beautiful woman beneath the façade, the same woman who had given her son back. She loved her, and as she flipped onto her back and flung the towel towards the bathroom, she knew that combination of this Regina and Mason made it impossible for her to return to her timeline without them.

How could she let Henry go? How could she love a woman who continued to hold her parents prisoner in some dark, unknown cell? How could she have fallen in love with Regina at all? They were so different, but they weren't. They just two profoundly fucked up women who handled their pain differently. Life beat them both down, and they fought back in their own ways. She'd become a hero, and Regina became something akin to a sociopath.

Yet, she'd been so kind that day. She'd apologized. She cared for Mason. She cared for her, even if she hadn't said it yet. She wanted her, and Emma wanted Regina. And, really, nothing else mattered. Decision made, she jerked from the bed and crossed the room confidently despite her nude state.

With a steadying breath, she touched the handle that separated her from Regina. "Goodbye, Henry," she whispered and opened the door.

Regina gasped from her vanity, and a flame lit the room, emanating from her palm. "Miss Swan, you are not an animal… why are you naked?" Regina lost her ire as she finally noticed Emma's state of undress.

"Because I want you to fuck me," Emma replied boldly. Any mention of making love would have sent Regina running for the hills, and honestly, Emma shied away from the softer emotions of their relationship in that moment. She'd already been burned by Regina and held no delusions that her queen was ready for romance of any sort. Regina may have cared, but she hadn't fallen in love with her, at least not far enough to admit it to herself much less anyone else.

"You've agreed to submit to me?" Regina clarified, apprehension in her voice. Emma's strength duped her easily without the use of magic, and if she froze, sometimes her magic froze, too.

"No, at least not in the way I think you mean," Emma explained carefully and stepped further into the room. "I'll be your sex monkey. I have no issue with that. But, if I don't like something and I say stop, you will stop. I'm not your slave." Her voice firmly filled the space between them.

Regina simply watched her cross the room, licking her lips with anticipation. Emma knelt in front of her, intentionally putting herself beneath Regina. "I will, however, follow your every command and your lead. You can't take my heart, Regina, but you can trust me."

An elegant eyebrow raised slowly as a savage expression spread on Regina's features. "I am not gentle, Miss Swan. Are you positive this is what you want?"

Emma nodded. "I can take it as long as you agree to stop if I ask you to," she reiterated the importance of consent. Regina studied her thoughtfully for such a long moment that Emma thought she'd fallen asleep with her eyes open. Blinking, she nodded once, agreeing to Emma's terms.

Before Emma completely acknowledged Regina's accord to the arrangement, a hand wrapped around her neck and pulled her forward into an already heated kiss. Her body responded immediately, surging adrenaline and desire through her veins to drain into her belly. Teeth nipped her upper lip, and Emma moaned shamelessly, uncaring if Regina knew how much she was already turned on.

A sharp tug at the back of her head detached her mouth from Regina's, and a whimper vibrated the back of her throat. Feeling the pressure of Emma unconsciously attempting to reclaim her lips, Regina grinned wickedly and held a firm resistance in her pet's hair.

"You aren't going to utter ridiculous sentiments this time, are you?" She asked, searching Emma's eyes.

"Only if you promise not to turn my hair red," Emma volleyed playfully, referencing her amazon guardian. Anger burned in her heart still, and she fought the urge to jerk Regina to her feet, mindful of The Queen's mental limitations.

"Does that make you want to hurt me, Savior?" Regina dripped into her ear. Of course, _these _emotions she understood, Emma grumbled inside her mind.

The hand in her hair tipped her head back, exposing her neck, and a second hand slid around her throat, squeezing lightly, not enough to cut off oxygen or cause alarm but more than enough to remind Emma who was in charge. Emma's chest flushed and heaved with arousal, and Regina leered at the breasts jiggling with the effort, which only increased it. To be desired by Regina Mills thrilled and terrified her more than being despised had, and she'd dreamed more than enough scenarios in the original timeline when the mayor hated her. Best sex she ever had was in her dreams, and now they made it reality.

"Yes," Emma gasped without meaning to. How confusing it must have been to Regina for her to promise to never hurt her and then openly admit to that very desire a moment before they had sex.

Regina, however, smirked and confused Emma even more. She never quite felt only one thing around Regina. The Queen applied pressure to her throat as she stood, and Emma followed until she stood at the foot of the bed. She knew enough to stay put where Regina released her, fighting every instinct in her body to gaze over her shoulder and watch her mistress undress. She knew that's what happened, though, by the quiet scratching of fabric hitting the plush carpet. The anticipation drove her higher.

When a soft hand touched her hip, she gasped, not having expected the gentleness. Lips on the muscle that connected the neck and shoulder followed. Feathery fingers traced and jagged, sensitive lines down her back, and Emma's eyes closed as a wash of old pain exploded in her chest. Regina wasn't the only one who suffered lashings at the hands of her guardians.

"I've not noticed these until now," Regina murmured, and Emma squirmed from the words and the hot puffs of air against her neck.

"Regina, please, I need to see you," Emma pleaded, flexing and releasing her fists with the effort of upholding her end of the deal to allow Regina to set the pace and position.

Another kiss touched her shoulder. One hand cupped her throat, and the other at her hip slid over her taut stomach muscles already quivering with arousal. A wanton noise vibrated over her tongue when Regina's breasts pressed into her shoulder blades and a soft tuft of hair tickled her ass. Lips turned into teeth, and Emma gasped and shivered. Her nipples hardened from the tendrils of painful pleasure pulsing from the wounded muscle, one of many bruises Emma figured she'd wear in the morning.

Nails dug into her stomach, and Emma arched into The Queen. A hand raised to cup the back of Regina's neck lightly. She froze momentarily, only a second but enough that Emma felt it. She scratched lightly at the hairline on the nape of her neck, and the older woman relaxed.

"Please," Emma tried again. Regina left tiny welts of retaliation against her stomach, which made the fingers in Regina's hair tighten and relax several times as Emma fought the urge to take control. Regina tested her, and this definitely was one she cared about passing.

"I like it when you beg," Regina murmured against the shell of her ear. Emma's body trembled lightly. Emma's pleas created an aura of yearning that had been previously missing. She desired Regina so much that she begged simply to see her, ramping The Queen's ego and confidence that much higher.

Regina, for her own part, found it much more difficult to deny her pet's request than she anticipated. Upon hearing Emma's languid moaning as her palm covered her breast, her hips moved against the curve of Emma's ass, starting a teasing rocking motion that Regina intentionally maintained. She pinched and twisted Emma's nipple mercilessly, testing Emma's resolve and pain tolerance.

"Please, My Queen," Emma begged breathlessly, seemingly more turned on by the rough treatment. "Please, I just want to see you." The use of her title shot sparks into her stomach, and she flipped Emma so quickly that they both nearly lost their balance.

Her lips fell upon Emma's instantly, and The Savior took that as permission to dig adrenaline-laced fingers into her hips and pull their bodies flush. The kiss broke with a cry from Emma's lips when Regina pinched and pulled her nipple again, and Emma's hands encouraged the other woman's hips to continue rocking, giving them both pressure where it was needed.

Teeth latched onto her neck, and Emma tipped her head to the side, giving herself over to will of the enamoring woman wanting her. Tentatively, hands grazed an exploratory path over the curve of Regina's lower back to the globes of her luscious ass. The Queen hummed against her throat and then moaned outright when Emma squeezed roughly. Emma smirked and tucked the knowledge away for later, hoping like hell when she spanked Regina in the future that she'd not be blasted against a wall.

Regina retaliated by shoving her onto the bed, much like she had the first time. This time, though, no clothes separated them, no sexy strip show, no waiting. Her wrists were shackled to the bed above her head the moment Regina straddled her hips. Breasts and bellies and that delicious heat pulsing from the apex of Regina's thighs pressed into her, overloading her brain with stimulation.

"Fuck," she muttered and dared to tip her hips upward, seeking more friction.

"That's the idea, Miss Swan," Regina hissed before clamping teeth onto the other side of her neck. Emma cried out from the sharp pain, and then moaned into the gentle soothing of Regina's tongue, only to repeat the entire process as The Queen marked her viciously and calmed her.

"God, Regina, you feel so good," Emma panted, trying to stay actively involved. If she'd wanted, Regina's meager upper body strength compared to hers was no contest. She stayed put because Regina wanted her there, and they both knew it.

Teeth raked over the swell of her breast at the precise moment Regina's hips pressed down, and Emma knew she'd done it on purpose, to keep her on edge. It worked, and Emma's hips pushed up in a steady rhythm that Regina met almost frantically. A hand clamped around Emma's throat, using it as leverage to push her body back.

"You're so wet," Emma murmured and cautiously gripped Regina's hips now that her hands were freed. When no protest came from the lips sucking another possession mark on the side of her breast, Emma forced Regina's hips down to meet hers aggressively. Thigh muscles flexed around her hips, and Emma wished for a strap on in the moment, to be inside her, make her moan her name as she came undone completely.

"Regina, I'm going sit up," Emma warned, a moment before she used her abs to pull them both upright.

Regina seemed not to mind as her hips continued the frantic pumping, spreading hot, slick juice onto Emma's stomach. The Savior held her ribs lightly and wrapped her lips around a pert nipple at the perfect height. Regina moaned and arched into her, smothering Emma with her breast. She wanted to tease The Queen, to draw this out as long as possible, but the frustrated noises coming from the dark woman's throat warned against it. Regina needed release and soon or she was going to set something on fire, possibly her.

She wrapped one arm around Regina's back to steady her and touched her V of her ribs just below her breasts. Slowly, her fingers moved across quivering ab muscles, tickled the edges of her navel. Regina tensed, and Emma nipped at the bud in her mouth, distracting The Queen. Regina's arms fell around her neck, clinging to her like a lifeline, nails pressing tiny crescents into her shoulder blades.

"Emma," Regina whispered into her ear and cupped the back of her neck. Something in her voice paralyzed Emma's hand. "Don't stop, just… talk to me," Regina pleaded breathily.

"I've dreamed about you like this for so long," Emma whispered back, choosing not to comment on the fact that she knew how terrified Regina was in that moment. Her hand shifted lower, flipping palm up at the first touch of the small patch of hair.

Gliding her middle finger through the slick folds that awaited, Emma moaned into Regina's neck. "Fuck, you feel good, My Queen," she used her title intentionally, reminding Regina she had all the power even if she felt out of control in that moment.

"I can't wait until your riding my hand like a wild stallion," Emma murmured, and Regina pulled back with an amused smirk on her face.

"Really, Miss Swan? A stallion," she criticized her dirty talk, distracting herself further from the gently moving finger barely giving her any stimulation.

"I couldn't think of anything else. My brain is kind of distracted at the moment," Emma defended herself halfheartedly, more focused on the point of her finger teasing at Regina's entrance.

"Some time this century, Savior," Regina grouched, finally roused enough to be comfortable with the thought of someone not under her control taking her.

Emma pushed into her with one finger and found Regina so wet that she met no resistance at all. Her forehead fell against Regina's chest as The Queen's met her shoulder. They both panted, adjusting. Emma tried to calm her racing heart and jogging chest, but she actually fucked Regina Mills. Right now, in that moment. The feeling was… indescribable.

A hand gripped her throat again and force her eyes to Regina's as she leaned back slightly. "Don't tease me, Emma" she commanded, finding her confidence once more. It urged Emma onward.

The single finger glided easily out of her queen, and she added another with the next upward thrust. Regina sighed contentedly and rolled her hips, fucking Emma's fingers. Her own laced together behind Emma's neck, and The Savior leaned back slightly, bracing herself to test her muscle endurance that night. Probably another reason Regina chose her well-muscled guards.

"More, Emma," Regina ordered, her head lulling from side to side, eyes shut tightly in pleasure. Emma thought perhaps she kept using her name to remind her who exactly filled her with three fingers eager to bring her pleasure but pushed the thought aside.

Wetness tickled the back of Emma's hand, spurring her forward. She tested Regina's mental state with an abrupt, rough thrust to her knuckles. The Queen loosed a high pitched gasp and met the next with an equally aggressive swoop of her hips. She cried out again fell forward to rest her head on Emma's shoulder.

"Speak," she ordered, never ceasing the desperate rocking.

"Your pussy feels amazing, so tight," Emma dug into her rusty dirty talk, but Regina seemed not to notice if it was bad. Her walls gripped and sucked at her slicked digits and hot puffs of air spread wet breaths on her neck.

"So hot and wet, so fucking beautiful," Emma continued, unsure if she spoke of Regina's naughty bits or the woman herself. Each thrust inspired whimpers of pleasure from both women.

"Fuck, Regina," Emma moaned. Regina's thighs flexed and moved against hers shakily, and she curled her fingers upwards, dragging them over that dipped patch of nerves within her queen's sopping walls.

Regina cried out, digging nails into her back. "Harder, Emma," she encouraged.

The Savior obliged, completely abandoning herself to the moment. Regina was fine and begging for more. Emma plunged into the wet heat with a vengeance, bumping the bundle of nerves just above her beautiful slit with a thumb. A primal squall filled the room, and Emma repeated the savage pounding over and over, taking Regina higher. The Queen squirmed and moaned and bucked, matching her every movement with an increasingly erratic one.

Regina clenched and rippled around her fingers, and Emma pushed upwards one last time with curled fingers, banging into the most sensitive spot roughly. Teeth clamped onto Emma's neck, muffling a hair-raising scream. Nails tore into her back, and Emma grunted into the pain, unsure her lover would even have the mental capacity to understand words if she'd spoken them. Regina quivered violently, like her body prepared to fly apart, and then stilled, sinking onto her fingers.

"Emma," she whispered reverently and cupped the back of her neck lightly, erasing all of the hurt in Emma's mind with that one tender gesture and soft utterance of her name.

The Savior pressed open mouth kisses along her shoulder and crooked her fingers into Regina's g-spot again. The Queen sighed and jerked against her, following with gentle lips against the marred flesh of her pet's neck. She loved the sight of them there, especially when her pet wiggled her fingers and sent another wave of pleasure through her body.

"Mine," she proclaimed possessively, her tone leaving no room for argument.

"Yours," Emma confirmed, surprising the hell out of both of them. No pang of regret in her chest followed the words, and Emma resumed nipping and sucking at Regina's shoulder.

The Queen jerked suddenly from her lap and sank to the floor. Her fingers dislodged with a slurp, but Regina failed to react if she noticed at all. "Regina?"

"Shut up, Miss Swan," she snapped and spread Emma's knees. The sudden urge to recreate the feelings in Emma that she experienced confused her, but most everything pertaining to The Savior confused her. This particular confusion felt good, so she allowed it to consume her.

Regina trailed exploratory fingers over Emma's hairless skin. "You're smooth," she observed, speaking as though she'd never seen it before.

"It's a personal preference," Emma explained. "I could show you how to do it without razor burn if you want," she offered, expelling her own nervousness. Perhaps Regina liked women with bush?

Regina leaned forward and placed a soft kiss just above Emma's clit, and The Savior squirmed. "I'd like that," she accepted the offered, blowing the words over the hypersensitive area.

Emma quivered with excitement when she realized what Regina intended. Like everything Regina had done in the past week, it was unexpected but pleasant. The Queen wrapped her arms expertly around Emma's thighs, her knees resting on Regina's shoulders and supported by the bed beneath them. Cool air ghosted over her inner lips as Regina spread her open and inhaled her scent.

"Please," Emma begged and flopped onto her back, too shaky to hold herself upright anymore. "My Queen, Regina," she panted.

"Who do you belong to?" Regina asked, sending torturous breaths over her dripping hole.

"You, Regina. I'm yours," Emma cried, fighting the urge to rub herself on Regina's face in frustration. Regina controlled everything, she reminded herself. Obviously, being taken this way was a show of dominance, but Emma probably would have agreed to full submission if Regina relented and tongued her.

"Mine," Regina repeated. She ran the tip of her tongue through Emma's wetness, barely dipping inside and ending atop her clit, holding pressure there without moving teasingly.

"Regina, please. Fuck me with your tongue. Make me yours. I want to be yours," Emma begged shamelessly. Her old life was gone, she'd let it go the moment she barged into Regina's room that night. Now, she lived for this woman and the boy she'd reunited with. She'd wanted Regina for so long, and even without the reciprocated pleasure, Regina had ruined her for any other lover for life. Nothing compared to the sight of Regina Mills experiencing an orgasm on her fingers.

Satisfied with Emma's pledge, Regina flicked her tongue over her pet's clit. Emma squirmed, already preparing to pop from the tingling pressure expanding in the bottom of her belly. She knew that she was being taken, dominated, marked, but not a single thought in her mind dared to protest. She wanted this - Regina, pleasure, sex, love.

She clapped a hand over her mouth, physically holding the words in before she stupidly confessed her love again. Regina ended the assault with a slow, broad stroke. Emma whimpered when the stimulation disappeared completely. Her back arched off the bed painfully when Regina's heated muscle plunge into her, chin bumping soaked pleats.

"Regina," she released huskily, her body melting to the mattress.

Regina wiggled inside, and Emma rolled her hips unconsciously. Nails tore into her stomach, punishing her, but the delicious burn only transformed into heat that dove straight to her core and tipped her on the edge of oblivion. Regina thrust in and out, moving her entire head, driving Emma up one wall and down the other. On the next inward motion, she dipped her tongue, scooping juices from the source and spread them liberally onto her clit as surfaced for air.

Hands buried in dark locks, and Regina batted them away, glaring up The Savior's body. Teeth raked her clit, bringing Emma off the bed panting and bucking. Regina smirked for one tiny second and then sucked at the distended nub. Emma grabbed at the comforter, gasping for air that her heaving chest and racing heart denied her.

"Regina," she forced out. "I'm…" Emma's hips jerked upwards and held the position, muscles quivering with the effort. Red splotches flushed her chest and face. Regina thought for a moment she'd sent The Savior into a fit, but after a terrifying moment, Emma collapsed to the bed once more, sucking noisy breaths.

"Fuck," she muttered, head thrown back against the bed.

Regina straddled her hips once more and grabbed Emma's cheeks with clawed fingers. "Mine," she reiterated needlessly, and captured Emma's lips. Tasting herself on Regina's mouth, Emma moaned relentlessly into the kiss. Each tiny movement spread more of that erotic tang onto her taste buds, solidifying the fact in her hazy brain that Regina Mills just tongue fucked her into oblivion.

After a moment, her hands felt steady enough to roam over Regina's body. They caught slightly on the sheen of sweat beaded on The Queen's lower back, and Emma began her moaning marathon all over again. Regina's sopping center lowered to her belly, and her eyes flew open.

"Regina," she breathed and trailed her fingers over Regina's sides. "Can I? Please? I want to," she begged incoherently, moving her hands to Regina's breasts. "Fuck, your tits are perfect," she worshipped with her words as much as her groping hands.

Regina arched her back, pushing her rock solid nipples into Emma's palms. "What is it you want, Miss Swan?" She asked, her own voice strained and slow.

"I want to taste you. Please. Let me, please," Emma begged, knowing she asked something probably far too vulnerable of Regina in that moment.

Caramel eyes bore into her glazed green, black hair swaying against Regina's cheek. Steadying herself on one hand, Regina raised her hips and reached between them. Emma followed her hand, watching two fingers disappear into Regina's slippery walls.

"Dear god, do that," Emma exclaimed, though her voice only came out in a breathless plea. Regina smirked, drinking up Emma's obvious desire for her. No one had ever worshipped her body with such lustful and longing eyes before, not even Daniel when their kisses became too heated for her to handle.

Regina removed her fingers, now glistening with the evidence of her lust. Emma licked her lips, barely refraining from raising from the bed like a dog after a treat. She didn't care. If ever asked, she'd tell Regina she went temporarily insane. She licked her lips again, head raising slightly as the slick digits hovered over her mouth. Her tongue flicked out, but they remained just out of reach.

Regina smirked wickedly. Emma couldn't decide if she wanted to fuck her or strangle her. With a raised eyebrow, Regina denied her request, smearing the nectar onto Emma's perked nipples. A whimpering, squawk of a sound vibrated from the back of Emma's throat through her closed lips, and Regina chuckled.

"You've not earned such a privilege," The Queen decreed and lowered her mouth to Emma's gleaming nipples, cleaning each with care and precision while the woman beneath her sighed and wiggled. Teeth scraped an aching nub as Regina pulled back.

"You may, however, assist me," Regina encouraged, more than ordered. Her own heady passion stole her breath as much as her pet's. She slipped a hand between them, and two fingers once again disappeared. Regina sighed, ghosting air across Emma's wet breasts, causing a shiver that The Savior barely noticed in her own body.

Emma's hand followed the command, though her brain failed to register it until her palm covered the back of Regina's. Regina paused momentarily with her fingertips still nestled inside her wetness and allowed Emma's fingers to cover the back of hers. She thrust both hands inside herself, stretching the tight walls with a bite of pain. Both women moaned at the scorching heat surrounding them.

Regina lowered her upper body to a forearm and elbow, ass bobbing in time with their fingers. Emma reclaimed her lips, cleaning her juices from The Queen's mouth and chin with little sucking motions and flicks of her tongue. She felt dirty and alive and so very very ready to be taken by her mistress again.

"Fuck me like you mean it, Miss Swan," Regina growled, her voice rumbling and raspy. Emma abandoned her attempt at multitasking and squeezed her pinky and thumb on the sides of Regina's hand, forcing The Queen to fuck herself with new fervor.

"Yes, Emma," she encouraged, and Emma abandoned all thoughts of injuring her queen. Regina could take it. Hell, she wanted it.

Each thrust banged against Regina's walls until the woman writhed atop her, face buried in her neck and indistinguishable curses vibrating each staccato breath. Emma pumped into her with metronome precision, and when Regina's hips jerked erratically searching for more stimulation, She forced Regina's fingers to curl, pressing them into her g-spot. Hopefully, Emma thought.

Regina cursed in her ear. Emma grinned wickedly and kept a steady, painful rhythm, banging into her with curled fingers, holding constant pressure on that ribbed flesh. Tight walls gripped and grabbed at the slicked digits greedily. Regina's hips gave a shudder, and the muscles rippled and clenched around their joined fingers. Teeth clamped Emma's neck again, mauling the already bruised flesh more.

Emma hissed, fighting the urge to jerk away from the unpleasant sensation. "Damn it, woman, if you keep biting me there, I'm not going to have any flesh left," she bitched.

Regina shifted downward, curled her stomach into a ball, and sank her teeth into Emma's breasts, once again finding a silencer for her call of ecstasy as she came for the second time that night. She slumped onto Emma's chest, content to leave their fingers nestled inside the tight wetness. Her cheek stuck lightly to her chest from their combined sweat.

She peeled it away and grinned like the Cheshire Cat at the woman beneath her. Emma grinned wickedly and jerked their fingers free of the greedy muscles holding them. Regina gasped, and then moaned when Emma shoved all four back inside of her, fucking her frantically.

"Emma," Regina cried. "Emma, yes," she encouraged the rough treatment, and Emma concentrated on the tightened face of sheer pleasure her queen wore.

"You're so fucking beautiful," she praised as she fucked Regina through the pleasure waves of one orgasm and slammed her into another one. Juice sloshed against their hands with each upward thrust and more spilled out as they released the tension spreading The Queen's reluctant muscles.

The sounds Regina made tore at Emma's stomach, clenching and releasing and bucking in search of stimulation that just wasn't there. The smell of her musk, the sight of her opened mouth and closed eyes, the feel of her slickness all over her hand and her tight pussy suckling her fingers. Emma bucked and held the position, tightening her muscles until it almost felt like pressure inside of her. Regina crashed into the waves of oblivion with another squall into Emma's shoulder, nails tearing at her side.

"Fuck, Regina, I need to…. I think, I'm…." Emma babbled. She was so close that one touch would have sent her over the edge. Regina surprised the hell out of her as she jerked her fingers free with another quiver of pleasure and pressed a finger lubricated with her own arousal against her clit.

It was too much. She'd already reached the point of over stimulation. "Regina, I need you inside," she instructed, praying her queen chose another time to be stubborn or pissy about taking orders.

Still jerking and quivering with her own extended orgasm, Regina shifted lower and plunged two fingers into her pet, not even bothering with gentle movements. Within three strokes of her curled fingers, Emma followed her over that cliff and clapped a hand over her mouth to cover the loud sounds flowing from them, some were curses, some were noises.

Regina rolled away limply, allowing her body to fall where it wanted on the bed. Two sets of fingers pulled free with the motion, and the two women panted side by side, unable to do anything aside from ride the ripples of warmth and adrenaline tingling through their veins.

"Holy shit," Emma muttered when chest stopped jogging up and down like she'd just sprinted a mile.

Regina chuckled. "I agree." Emma lulled her head towards Regina's face. She looked fucking gorgeous. Cheeks and chest shone a bright red brightly in the dim light of the lamp by the vanity, sweat glistened between her slightly heaving breasts.

"Now what?" Emma asked, unable to help the dark cloud hanging over her pleasure endorphin-induced almost-bliss.

"Now, we sleep," Regina stated reverently as though she'd not slept well in a while. Perhaps she hadn't, Emma reasoned.

"Yes, agreed, but here… I mean, together here," she clarified.

Regina sighed. She truly hadn't intended Emma to spend the night. The thought of sharing her bed bothered her slightly. Yet, "If your legs resemble mine at all, you are unable to walk that far, and I cannot summon magic to teleport you at the moment," she granted permission without actually saying it.

Emma opened her mouth to speak, but Regina beat her to it. "Since you're here, make yourself useful," she grouched and rolled to her side. "I'm cold."

Emma smirked. Regina wanted to cuddle? "Yes, Ma'am," she muttered playfully. Mustering all of her strength, she wrapped an arm around Regina's ribs and dragged her to the head of the bed and wrangled the blankets from beneath them.

"If you are strong enough to carry me, you are strong enough to walk," Regina reasoned, glaring up at her for being manhandled.

"Nu uh," Emma countered childishly, still riding her happy wave and collapsed onto a pillow, pulling the blanket over her head. Regina tried to be angry or irritated or anything that resembled something other than the warmth filling her chest and the smile cracking her face.

When Regina settled onto her own pillow, back still facing her, Emma wrapped an arm around her waist and splayed her fingers over her belly. "Your hand is wet," Regina sniped.

"It's your wetness," Emma reminded her. "That I'm not allowed to taste," she added with a frustrated grumble. Regina flicked her wrist, drying Emma's hand with magic. The Savior grinned wickedly.

"Thought you couldn't summon magic right now," she teased cautiously, not knowing how grumpy Regina might have been in her sleepy state.

"Good night, Miss Swan," Regina grumbled and burrowed into her pillow.

Emma settled onto hers and stared at the scars on Regina's back, fighting the urge to trace them. "Good night, Regina," she returned and forced her eyes to close lest she do something stupid like pillow talk. That would have her kicked out of the bed for sure.


	37. Beacon

Thank you for the reviews and follows, sweet Doves! Enjoy!

Song: A Case of You by Joni Mitchell

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><p>Regina woke slowly and arched her back, readjusting her position. Her stomach and back pulled deliciously, stretching the muscles she'd abused the previous night. She loved that feeling as much as she loved magic. Her eyes cracked, nose wrinkling in confusion at the bright light of day. She'd slept thru the entire night. That only ever happened with sleep aides. Rolling onto her back, she noticed the missing warmth of Emma pressed against her. The thought transformed into a feeling that dropped into her gut, and confused her. It wasn't pleasant, not like most of the emotions Emma inspired.<p>

"Hey, you're up," a soft voice called from across the bathroom door.

Regina glared at the previously absent blonde and sat up, blanket and sheet falling to her waist. Emma slipped into the bed, still naked and blinked up at her. Her face fell slowly as she noticed Regina's unreadable expression and flinched when Regina moved too quickly for her comfort, but The Queen only shifted in the bed to better glare at her.

"Can you warn me if you're going to throw a fireball at me?" Emma asked and sat up slowly. Still Regina only stared, eyes flicking over Emma's face. The knot in her stomach loosened slightly. She raised her hand, and Emma flinched again. Regina rolled her eyes and lifted blonde hair from her pet's shoulder and studied her neck.

"Yeah, it totally looks like Ruby's chew toy during the full moon," Emma joked and crossed her arms over her bare chest self-consciously. She'd known there would be marks and accepted them happily, but Regina's silence unnerved her. Had she woken with regret?

It wasn't exactly how she'd envisioned their first time, but she finally understood. She'd met Regina halfway, and they'd created something beautiful together, beautiful and satisfying… very satisfying. Regina needed to heal before she could feel, and their night together took them a giant, flying leap in that direction. Despite Emma's promises of obedience and submission, Regina took a huge chance (at least to her) that Emma betrayed that and harmed her as others had. The fact that she'd practically asked Emma to stay at the end of the night forged a bridge of mutual trust and respect between them, combining the pain Regina needed with the tenderness Emma craved.

It wasn't a tiny step, it was a catapult launch over Regina's thick, icy walls.

Regina raised an eyebrow and dropped her hair, smirking. Emma cocked her head to the side, eyes squinting in confusion. "Are you having feelings again? Is that why you're not saying anything?"

"Do you ever shut up?" Regina sniped. "I've only awoken, and I will throw a fireball at you if don't zip your flapping hole," she threatened.

Emma made a zipping motion across her lips and snuggled under the blankets, content to gaze up at her new lover. Regina really was a striking woman. "Hey," she caught Regina's attention, her vow of silence lasting all of ten seconds. "Come here," she pleaded softly.

Regina allowed The Savior to guide her to the bed once more and rested her head on Emma's shoulder. She traced the purple bite marks she'd left on Emma's breast during her last orgasm with light fingertips, proud of them. She wanted the world to know that Emma Swan belonged to her, yet… did she really?

"I'm having feelings," Regina confirmed and sighed in frustration.

"Do you need help with them or do I just need to be quiet?" Emma asked, holding Regina's ribs firmly.

"Are you capable of such a feat?" Regina snapped. Emma chuckled, brushing a thumb over Regina's side absently. It felt so fucking wonderful to be with Regina like this. If she played her cards right, it stood to reason this would become her morning every morning. The thought tugged the corners of her mouth upward.

"I have doubts about the meaning of last night's liaison," Regina admitted quietly, her voice rasping with morning and the deepness of her confession. She remained unaware of Emma's thoughts and smile, and The Savior sincerely doubted her ability to understand them if she had noticed.

"Insecurity," Emma murmured and nuzzled the crown of brown hair tickling her chin. "You have nothing to worry about. I meant everything I said last night, Regina. I want this, but I need to have veto power," she soothed The Queen's fears.

"I shall not force anything upon you," Regina vowed, mindful of the agreement they'd created the previous night.

"It's not just that," Emma said and craned her neck to the side, muscles tweaking from The Queen's abuse. "If I think something is going to hurt you, I'm going to say no. There's a difference between rough sex and harmful sex, and I reserve the right to draw that line," she stated firmly, leaving no room for argument. Though she entered this aspect of their relationship for her own selfish reasons, Regina still benefited from her humanity and love. As long as Regina treated her as a person and not as a thing, she knew she'd continue.

Regina raised herself onto her elbow and studied Emma's face, the sincerity and blatant care she felt. Emma always looked so kind, even when she was angry. "I shall honor my agreement and respect your wishes should you ever decline my attentions or request an end to our physical relationship," she clarified, hoping like hell she at least got this response right and loathing herself for caring if she spoke correctly in the first place.

Emma's lopsided grin told her that she had.

"Come here," The Savior whispered and pushed her fingers into black tresses, pulling Regina forward gently to keep from spooking her. For her part, Regina accepted the request with fervor and claimed Emma's lips.

Her body slid easy onto Emma's, legs tangling, breasts expanding and molding with the pressure of their breaths. Emma allowed Regina to set the pace as she had the previous night, and opened her mouth willingly when her tongue probed for permission. Emma flicked hers out to meet her queen's, slick muscles gliding sensually, and Regina moaned at the unexpected contact.

Emma grinned into the kiss and traced light hands over Regina's sides. They slid over the contour of her lower back and the swell of her ass, pulling a hum from The Queen's throat. With very little encouragement from her hands, Regina moved her hips lazily, rubbing her clit against Emma's thigh and hip bone. Her leg bumped Emma's on each upward roll, and the slow stimulation suited her just fine.

"My Queen, I apologize for the intrusion, but Emma…. Oh!" Astrid called frantically at first, clearly freaked out that Emma hadn't slept in her own bed. Regina detached her lips languidly, unconcerned with the image they painted for the blushing maid. Astrid squeaked and turned her back.

"Found her. Apologies, Majesty. I was only concerned for her safety," Astrid explained and tensed to bolt back into Emma's room.

"Astrid, what did you need?" Emma asked before the former fairy sprinted towards the safety of the kitchen.

"Mason is up but refuses to have breakfast until both of you come down to eat with him," she explained, her voice quivering with emotion. Fear, maybe, or embarrassment. She wrung her hands and awaited a proper dismissal. Emma nudged Regina and jerked her head towards Astrid.

The Queen cleared her throat. "Thank you, Astrid. You may inform him we'll be down in 30 minutes," Regina instructed. The maid scurried off, and Regina waited for the click of the door closing behind her before she turned to Emma.

She pressed a finger to Emma's lips when they opened to protest the short amount of time she'd given them to complete their morning workout and get properly cleaned up to have breakfast with Emma's son. Dragging the digit downwards, she stole a brief kiss. "We shall continue later," she assured Emma and then rolled away.

"We could continue in the shower," Emma suggested, following Regina and catching her hips before she exited the bed. She pressed sloppy, open mouth kisses to her shoulder and neck from behind.

Regina hummed in pleasure but shrugged her away and flung the covers to the side as she stood. "Later, Miss Swan. Use your own shower," she ordered and sauntered across the room with a gentle sway in her hips. Emma watched every delectable swish with rapt attention. Tossing her hair, Regina smirked over her shoulder a moment before closing herself in the bathroom.

"Fuck," Emma muttered and fell backwards onto the bed, arms thrown carelessly over her head on the pillows. Regina Mills became her lover in the blink of an eye, and she knew that one day she'd die of excitement because of that.

What a way to go, she thought and pulled herself out of the bed to prepare for her day with Mason. They'd planned to go at the movies and video games as hard as they could today, and though she'd missed her good morning fuck with Regina, the thought of her son's greeting yesterday left her full of energy. He hadn't hated her as she'd expected.

With renewed vigor, she forced herself from the bed and made a bee line for her shower. As usual, she finished faster than any other person alive and toweled at her hair, studying her wardrobe. Her normal clothes were completely out of the question as they exposed her throat, so she grabbed an itchy turtleneck that Graham had bought when she first arrived.

As she pulled the garment onto her arms, hands grabbed her hips, nails sinking into her flesh. Emma jerked and twirled, more out of surprise than fear. Who the hell would attack her in Regina's house? Well, okay, Cora, but she'd been awfully docile as of late. Regina's amused smirk awaited her when she whipped about, and Emma glared at the playful queen.

"Geez, invest in a freakin' bell," she griped and returned her attention to the sweater. Regina snatched it away and tossed it onto the bed, inspiring Emma's hands to her hips.

"What the hell, woman?" She demanded, cocking her hip to the side for sass effect.

"I wish my marks to be displayed," Regina explained with a shrug and stepped into her personal bubble. Warm, pampered hands gripped her waist possessively, and Regina dropped a kiss onto her collarbone.

"Mason doesn't exactly know about our arrangement," Emma countered gently. Like everything pertaining to Regina, this situation required her to not only read between the lines but dig through the three feet of cement and unlock a steel cage with no key in order to figure out Regina's deeper meaning.

"You are ashamed of your queen's brand?" Regina asked haughtily, but a sliver of hurt appeared on her face, or perhaps shame. She wanted to show her off like a 14-year-old who had just given her first hickey.

Emma sighed and tucked a strand of hair behind Regina's ear before cupping her cheek. "Of course I'm not ashamed of your marks, Regina, but he's my son. What if he thinks I'm still a prostitute?"

Regina raised her chin. "In our land, such women were revered and highly sought after. They possessed more power than even I had as queen before Leopold's demise. Is that such a horrible position to hold?" She asked, genuinely seeking answers.

"When one of my… her… other Emma's customers beat him and tossed him away like he was nothing, which put him in the system? Yes, it's not something I want him to think," Emma explained patiently, falling easily into the flow of Regina's constant search to understand.

Regina nodded, apparently deeming that acceptable. She retrieved the shirt and held it out, intending to dress her pet. Emma slipped into it and pulled her hair free. "You may wear this in the mansion. When we dine at Granny's later this afternoon, I expect full display. A scarf, I believe undone on one side while Mason sits at your other."

Emma grinned. "You got a deal," she agreed, meeting the compromise before Regina revoked it completely. She thought perhaps she should have been offended by the fact that Regina presented her to the public like a trophy, but the bashful grin and slight lowering of Regina's eyes told her that it went far deeper than that. Regina was proud to have selected her as a pet and wanted everyone to know that. Yes, it served as the physical manifestation of her possession but also blazed as an emblem to Regina's commitment to truly change.

"Holy shit, you look hot," she blurted, losing momentum to decipher the reasons behind their newest compromise as she noticed Regina's outfit. Black dress slacks, a crisp white shirt with a black and white vest and blazer on top, and of course a set of those giant black pumps.

"Definitely like the power dyke look for you," Emma blubbered and eyed the other woman lasciviously.

"What on earth is a power dyke?" Regina snapped, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Uhh, crap… it's like, lesbians who dress like they're in charge," Emma explained horribly.

Regina cocked an eyebrow and huffed. "I am in charge, Miss Swan," The Queen proclaimed, growing more irritable by the second.

"Yes, but… power dykes are women who… I'm not sure I can explain this without assistance from Google," Emma admitted defeat.

"The Google is useless," Regina muttered, remembering her failed attempts at apologizing to Emma with it's suggestions. A smile tugged at her lips, though.

"Yes, but…" Heat flushed Emma's cheeks, tipping her ears uncomfortably. Regina's grin turned into a devilish smirk, and Emma deflated dramatically. "You're fucking with me," she deduced. Regina Mills made another joke? She laughed out loud and ran a hand thru her tangled blonde hair. "You're evil. Sexy, but evil."

Regina cleared her throat. "Honestly, Miss Swan, can you find no other genre of thought or has time travel shrunken your brain?" She squirmed under Emma's attention. No one had ever venerated her intelligence, strength, and physical form so openly and equally before. It confused and exhilarated her.

Emma rolled her eyes and offered Regina her arm. "You're welcome," she sassed and led Regina from the room.

Mason smiled up at them when they entered, and Emma dropped Regina's arm self-consciously but remembered to pull out her chair. She slumped into her own and ruffled her son's shaggy hair, hoping to distract him from their odd behavior. "Hey, kid."

"Hey Mom," he returned the greeting. "Good morning, Regina," he offered a bit more graciously to The Queen. "I already got us all breakfast. I hope that's okay. It's that queen's breakfast thing that you keep getting me," he babbled anxiously, clearly seeking Regina's approval.

"That's wonderful, Mason. Thank you," The Queen praised, and the teenager beamed, his mother right along side him. She loved watching this Regina interact with her son. Not that she hadn't enjoyed Henry and the original Regina, but that Regina had done things to intentionally hurt him in order to hurt Emma. This Regina wasn't like that, even though she'd threatened many times to be exactly that. She protected him from Cora, kept her temper in check, and indulged his whims of fancy with patience. She preferred this much more, she decided.

Coffee appeared in front of the two women, and their breakfasts followed a moment later. Astrid blushed profusely, nearly spilling a plate on Mason's lap. She glanced nervously between The Queen and Savior and then scurried to the kitchen. Mason watched her curiously, noticing the odd behavior shift since she'd returned from retrieving the women.

He squinted at Regina's nonchalance, and Emma's reddened cheeks hidden that she tried to hide behind her coffee cup. Finally, the pieces clicked into place, from their awkwardness of the previous day to their embarrassed expressions. "How long have you guys been together?"

Emma choked of the coffee, nearly sending it flying across the table. "How?"

"I'm not stupid, and I know how to read people," Mason answered the question with a shrug. Of course, he knew how to read people. He spawned from her womb and now carried a lot of the same experiences of her childhood.

"Not long, kid," Emma answered. "It's all sort of new." Honesty was probably best at this point. They'd already told him lies that could have crumbled at any second with the wrong word from someone. "You okay with that?" She asked, pushing the darker thoughts away in light of gaining her son's approval.

Mason shrugged and crunched into a strip of bacon. "As long as I get to have bacon every day," he chirped happily. His mom's girlfriend was awesome, odd but awesome. He couldn't have cared less if Emma had fallen in love with a woman. She wanted him, and Regina wanted him.

"I believe that arrangement is agreeable," Regina humored the boy's way of handling the situation. She understood him much better than most adults, even Emma. He chose not to feel things, only to survive not to be cruel. She adored him, terrifyingly so. The number of potential weaknesses in her life grew each day, and the task of protecting each of them overwhelmed her.

She hid the discomfort in a swallow of coffee and cleared her throat. "Have you two decided on activities for the day?"

Emma smirked at her son who grinned cheekily around a mouthful of food. The Savior answered, "We're going to raid your huge movie selection in the living room and put that Xbox to good use."

Regina brow pulled together. "That room is mostly used by my guards and servants. I'm uncertain it's appropriate for a boy," she stopped just short of forbidding their plans.

"Nah, it's fine. As long as we have snacks, right, Kid?" Emma nudged his shoulder with her elbow, and he nodded enthusiastically.

"Very well," Regina conceded with a sigh. Mason beamed at her, and The Queen's face softened under his attention. His happiness filled her chest with unexpected warmth, and with a searching glance towards Emma for guidance, she allowed it.

Emma smiled up at her from the hunched position over her plate, the posture mimicked by the boy at her pet's side. One side of her mouth tugged upwards, displaying that liquid heat in her chest. Blinking, she opened her eyes to find Emma fully invested in breakfast once more, but her eyes refused to look away from mother and son. She'd brought them together, fulfilling their mutual wish to reunite and giving them the only person they ever needed.

Neither had a choice to leave, and yet, they'd both chosen to stay, chosen her.

"Hey," Emma caught her attention quietly, touching her hand that loosely gripped the coffee mug. "You okay?" She asked with a foolish lopsided grin.

Familiar panic swelled and crashed in her chest, electrocuted her heart into a frenzied tempo. She recoiled, jerking her hand away so quickly that the cup of coffee tipped onto the bright white table cloth, staining it instantly in a dull brown. Regina stood with a harsh scrape of her chair on hardwood.

"I've lost my appetite. I'll take coffee in my office and begin my work," she clipped, more for Mason's benefit than Emma's. Had he not watched her reaction in confusion, she'd have simply stomped off without explanation.

She bolted from the dining room, heels tapping smartly, and shut herself in her office. The moment her back leaned heavily on the closed door, she pressed a hand to her chest and winced lightly as it sunk beneath the surface to free her heart from its anatomical constraints. For a moment, the world moved around her but time stood still. Her chest heaved painfully at the sight of something she'd not seen since casting the curse.

There, in the center of blackness, a tiny tendril of bright pink pulsed and swirled, a beacon in the darkness meant to lead her back to what she'd embodied before the darkness shrouded it.


	38. Uncertainty

Hello again, my sweets! Apologies for the lateness of this chapter. The last 48 hours of my life have been odd and shocking and overwhelming and… well, you get the picture.

So, here you go. Thank you so much for the reviews and follows and favorites! You're all awesome, and as such, you deserve a chance at a one-shot from moi. First one to guess the movie Emma and Henry are watching gets to give me a prompt for a one-shot.

Enjoy!

Songs: Explosive by Bond, Kiss Me Slowly by Parachute

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><p>Regina stopped in the doorway of the living room. Emma and Mason stood in the center of the room, riveted to the movie on the television. A half-eaten plate of cookies sat in the middle of the coffee table along with a bowl of popcorn kernels, empty and half-full bottles of soda. The Queen wrinkled her nose at the disgusting display of gluttony but held her tongue, watching mother and son enjoy their movie so immensely.<p>

"There was a fire fight!" They screamed in unison, holding their arms in the air in a V.

A smirk tugged at her lips despite the grotesque display of violence and ridiculous directing of a classical symphony by a man in disheveled clothing and a maniacal expression. Mason and Emma danced around similarly, clearly having seen the movie enough times to follow every movement and line perfectly. It warmed her heart all over again, and she took another step into the room and ignored the feeling for the moment.

Setting her best irritated face, Regina cleared her throat. "Honestly, Miss Swan, you've deemed this acceptable for your son's entertainment?"

Emma spun towards her so quickly that she nearly lost her balance. "Regina!" She scratched the back of her head, embarrassed for having been caught being so silly. "He picked it out," she grumbled, and grinned sheepishly up at her lover from beneath hooded eyes.

"Have you completely destroyed your appetite or may I proceed with our original plans of dining at Granny's this afternoon?" She held her aggravation as long as possible, finding joy in The Savior's uncomfortable wriggle on her hook.

"To the diner!" Mason yelled and breezed past the two women. Clearly, they had issues that needed ironing, and he wanted no part of it. "I'm going to go get my coat," he proclaimed and bolted from the room, clomping loudly up the stairs.

Regina grinned after the boy, no longer able to fake irritation. "I've not seen him smile so brightly since his arrival," she commented absently, staring longingly into the foyer. It stung, turning Mason over to Emma's capable and loving hands. Had she lost him?

"Regina," Emma whispered, practically in her ear. "Can I touch you?" She asked respectfully, praying Regina reciprocated the yearning she'd felt the entire morning. She'd not followed Regina after her mad dash from the dining room, figuring the events and emotions of the previous night finally sank into. They frightened Emma, so she only imagined how much more terrifying they were for the far more stunted queen.

"First, I'd like an explanation, Miss Swan," Regina dropped coldly and held up a hand. There, on her finger, a neon pink post-it note blazed like a bonfire that revealed the location of enemy troops. Emma actually physically winced.

"Mason thinks Cora will like him if he keeps picking on her. I just thought it was funny," Emma explained and hooked her thumbs in the back pockets of her jeans. Regina rolled her eyes and sighed. She truly wanted to laugh at the practical joke, but had Cora discovered her home office covered from top to bottom in these tiny squares instead of Matilda, there'd have surely been another skirmish between The Savior and her mother.

"Mother has been quite agreeable since your display of violence towards her. Do you wish to regress to our earlier days in which I must constantly intervene?" Regina snapped in anger. She balled the paper and flung it at Emma, bouncing it off her cheek.

Emma failed to even notice. Regina's words stopped her cold. "I'm sorry, Regina," she apologized easily, realizing her mistake in a moment. "I'll clean them up before we go," she promised, head bowed. Though they wanted only to irritate Cora a little bit, Mason failed to understand exactly the position they'd put Regina in with her mother. She had, too. Every time Regina locked horns with her mother, The Queen came out on the other side always victorious but also bloodied and hurting.

"Matilda, Greg, and Astrid have undertaken the task already," Regina said and clasped her hands in front of her hips, controlling her emotions.

Emma blew right past her emotional barriers and scratched fingers of one hand thru her hair, caressing her shoulder with the other. "Regina, I'll do better," she promised, hoping not to get blasted. Though she felt that last night changed everything for them, Regina spent years having sex with people in her service. It may have simply been another romp for her.

But, it wasn't, Emma battled silently. She'd spent the night. Regina reciprocated. Regina called her name in the throes of passion. These facts were absolutely useless, and frustration bubbled in The Savior's chest. She didn't know what to do.

"Regina?" Emma whispered, looking for instruction for how to proceed. Regina hadn't bolted from the physical contact yet, but she hadn't fully accepted or responded, either.

"You may touch me, Miss Swan," Regina finally answered her original question.

"Thank god," Emma breathed and melted into her mistress.

Regina touched her hips lightly, unable to stop the quiver of emotion pouring thru her body. She tried to run, to speak, to make Emma understand how terrified their intimacy made her. But, she'd wanted this. She'd wanted Emma to change her, to change her kingdom. She selected The Savior because she was bold and brave and different from the other commoners under her rule.

"Regina, you're shaking," Emma murmured into her hair a moment before she pulled back. Regina's eyes were clamped shut tightly, facial muscles taut with tension.

"Regina, talk to me," she pleaded.

"Shut up, Miss Swan," Regina ordered and clapped a hand on either side of her face, pulling her down for a desperate kiss. They flew apart in teleport, and Emma's back hit a solid surface when they materialized.

Nails scraped her sides, and the sweater pulling over her head broke the kiss. The thick material flumped onto the floor behind Regina somewhere, and her hands immediately dove for Emma's belt, jerking erratically. As her fingers fumbled, Regina licked at the bruises and teeth imprints on her pet's ruined neck. The sight of her possession surged more adrenaline into her veins, jarring her hands violently.

"Consent," she demanded huskily into Emma's ear as The Savior took matters into her own hands, undoing her belt and the button of her jeans.

"Fuck me, My Queen" she answered almost immediately. Her body still ached from their almost meeting that morning, and Emma quickly discovered that a mere look, a touch, a scent of the older women made her climb the walls. Regina's sudden frantic need to have her confused the shit out of her, but as long as she continued moving closer instead of pushing her away, Emma decided to just go with it.

She'd barely kicked out of the pants and boots before Regina dropped to her knees and dug nails into her hips. The gesture made Emma understand, but her brain absolutely refused to decrypt Regina's sudden need to assert her dominance. The Queen paused for one deep inhalation of the musk dripping from her pet and then began a frenzied assault of flicks across her clit.

Emma moaned loudly at the sudden liquid heat on the sensitive bundle of nerves and grabbed the door handle to steady herself. Her other hand fell to dark tresses, eliciting a growl from below. Regina flicked one hand, and Emma's crash into the door above her head, held in place with invisible restraints. She found herself thankful for them, at least she wouldn't fall over that way.

"Mine," Regina declared, and Emma shivered at the weight and conviction of the monosyllabic snarl.

"Yours," she answered breathlessly.

Regina rewarded her by plunging two fingers into velvet walls of liquid heat. Her hips bucked and rolled, using the advantage of restraints to fuck herself on Regina's fingers. The Queen dug nails into stomach, warning her that she'd pleasured herself enough, and somewhere in the recesses of her brain function, Emma understood and forced her hips to stop. Regina, however, stopped with her, making the entire process that much more excruciating.

"Regina, please," she begged. "My Queen, I'm yours. I'm yours, Regina," she babbled.

Apparently, Regina needed to hear it more than once, Emma's mind registered for a split second. It shut down like a transformer blowing as pleasure burst in her body. It wasn't slow or gentle or sort-of-but-not-really emotional like the previous night. Regina Mills fucked her, hard and fast.

Lips suckled her clit with intermittent flicks of a skilled tongue. Fingers thrust and pumped ferociously, combining jolts of pain with tendrils of scorching pleasure in her belly. Emma forgot to be quiet. She forgot not to rock her hips. She forgot to be afraid of losing everything and the pain of so much more she should have had. She forgot her parents and Henry and the possibility of ever going home. She forgot about the horror on the original Regina's face if she ever discovered what happened in this timeline.

Because if she ever felt how desperately this Regina wanted her, she'd have left Robin in a heartbeat.

Her mind released the thought into the oblivion of ecstasy as her muscles contracted around Regina's fingers and she came with Regina's name on her lips. Her legs quivered, and her arms pulled tight against the magical restraints. With another wave of Regina's hand, Emma slumped to her knees, straddling Regina's lap. She draped her arms over The Queen's shoulders and buried her face in Regina's hair, riding the waves of pleasure pulsing from Regina's twitching fingers against her g-spot.

"Say it again," Regina ordered, a softer tone in her voice than the first time.

"I'm yours, Regina Mills," Emma whispered into her ear, reveling in the resulting shiver in the body beneath hers.

A gentle hand pressed against the base of her spine, steadying her as Regina reclaimed her fingers. It was gentle and soothing, a stark contrast to the rough treatment that reduced her to jell-o in this woman's arms. Emma met it with feathery kisses against Regina's neck and soft hums of contentment. She cupped the back of Regina's neck with one hand and followed the contour of her shoulder with the other.

When it reached The Queen's breast, Regina said, "Tell me how much you want me."

"Right now, more than anything," Emma answered honestly. "You feel so good, Regina," she praised and nipped her earlobe. Her hand massaged Regina's breast lightly, and her excitement began growing all over again.

"Your breasts are so fucking perfect," she murmured and pulled back to meet Regina for a heated kiss. The Queen moaned into her mouth, shooting slivers of arousal to the apex of her thighs instantly.

Emma rocked gently on Regina's thigh, putting just enough pressure on her clit to build herself up slowly. Surprised that Regina hadn't retaliated against the self-pleasure, Emma continued. She kissed down that perfect jaw line and nipped at Regina's throat, grinning at the tiny quiver it caused in her lover's body.

"I love your body, Regina," Emma confessed into her neck. "You're so beautiful. I want to spend hours worshipping every single inch of you."

Regina's eyes slipped shut, head lulling backwards lazily. Emma urged her entire body to follow her head, spreading her knees to allow Regina to unfurl from her kneeling position. The moment she settled her hips atop Regina's, Emma knew that she'd made a terrible mistake, even if she'd not restrained Regina's hands. The Queen's eyes flew open in a wild panic, and the tingle of magic raised the hair on the back of Emma's neck.

"Stop," Regina breathed quietly. Emma threw her upper body to the side and dropped to the floor beside the suddenly scared woman. Regina gulped a deep breath at the immediate release from the confined position.

Emma raised on an elbow and studied her lover for a minute. "I'm sorry, Regina. I didn't think." And she truly hadn't. She just wanted Regina to feel good. The static of magical energy disappeared, and Regina's gaze shifted from the ceiling to her pet's.

"You stopped?" She blurted, eyes narrowing in confusion.

Emma's forehead furrowed, creating four tiny white lines. She dropped her gaze shyly, feeling the weighted change of energy in the room. Regina's incredulity blanketed them thickly, and an uncontrollable anger swell in her chest. How had anyone hurt Regina so badly that she actually fucking questioned her motives for stopping when asked? With a deep breath, she pushed the rage into a tiny box and shoved it away for the moment. It only caused more harm than good in this situation.

She raised her eyes slowly and met the shimmering caramel studying her face. "I'll always stop, Regina. I told you, I'll never hurt you like that."

The Queen stared at her pet for an extended, searching gaze. Emma waited. Patience had never been her best quality, but she held perfectly still aside from the tensed flex of her fist and the rapid jogging of her chest. After what felt like an hour, Regina raised her hand and touched Emma's mouth with three trembling fingers. The scent of her lingered on The Queen's hand, and Emma decided that she loved it there. She kissed the digits lightly and waited against her instinct to take Regina in her arms and kiss the rest of her body until nothing hurt anymore.

"Clean yourself and dress," Regina instructed softly, her voice hoarse with emotions Emma couldn't quite read. She disappeared in a puff of violet smoke.

Completely confused by the sudden display of tenderness, Emma pushed herself onto wobbly legs and followed the directive. She'd either chipped away more ice from Regina's ivory tower or laid more bricks. Only the next few hours revealed which, and Emma sincerely prayed she'd not just destroyed their budding romance.


	39. The Beginning

All of this chapter really isn't necessary, but I managed to make it worth it with a forward-moving plot point. Writing Ruby Lucas just makes me feel better. All my Ruby lovers, throw your paws up!

Smeaglebeagle, buddy, enable your PM capability so that I can get some info for your one-shot if you want it.

Thank you all so much for the reviews and follows. I'm a little overwhelmed with the response of this story, and I hope I continue to do it service. Enjoy!

Songs: I Won't by Colbie Caillat (Ruby/Belle), Daughters of Darkness by Halestorm (Regina/Ruby)

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><p>Ruby glanced up from the peanut butter pie and tracked Belle across the diner as she'd done for the millionth time that day. The newly released prisoner smiled kindly at a customer who complimented her dress and thanked the man, not even realizing that he hit on her. It took hearing more than a few passes for Ruby to grow accustomed to the attention Belle received, and even more than that to realize that they meant nothing to the bookworm, quelling her jealousy. She was a beautiful woman, and not much ever changed in Storybrooke, so of course they noticed. If Belle recognized them as flirtatious banter, she never indicated so and never reciprocated, which only made her grin. Belle wanted and waited for her.<p>

"Ruby, can you carry this for me?" Belle asked over her shoulder and finished filling the bus pan to the brim. Ruby snapped from her reverie and dished out the pie, sliding it in front of Ms. Ginger on her way to Belle.

"As you wish," she answered in a soft voice. It'd become their secret phrase since Ruby watched The Princess Bride with her the day after her release. Every time she uttered it, which happened often throughout the day, Belle smiled shyly, knowing it translated to 'I love you.' They'd refrained from using the actual words and most physical contact - in public because they were already far more obvious than either were comfortable with and in private because they'd reached the point of no return and one touch would have destroyed their resolve to remain platonic.

Careful not to press herself into Belle's back, even though she ached to do just that, Ruby reached around her and grabbed the pan. For her wolf, it barely presented a challenge, and the thought of exactly what Ruby was capable of set Belle's cheeks burning. She gratefully followed the dirty dishes to the kitchen and dutifully took to them with a scraper. She liked being useful, but the front of the diner was far too overwhelming. In the kitchen, she mostly only interacted with Granny but not often. The woman wasn't exactly chatty, and Belle preferred her that way.

"Are you getting tired?" Ruby asked once safely in the kitchen.

"People are exhausting," she admitted and slipped an apron over her head. Turning, she allowed Ruby to tie it in the back for her, as had become their little dance. "How do you tolerate such long interactions with them daily?"

"Because I'm an extrovert who hasn't spent the last 30 years isolated in a prison cell, and you're an introvert who has," Ruby pointed out absently, distracting herself from Belle's waist. It didn't work. Her hands slid over the gentle curves and slipped beneath the apron, gliding reverently over Belle's soft stomach.

"I'm sorry that I become overwhelmed so easily," Belle apologized. "I never wished to burden you." Though she knew Ruby denied it fervently, her presence cause the compassionate wolf more worry and responsibility.

"You're not a burden, you're a blessing," Ruby whispered, a cheeky smile spreading against Belle's soft brown hair. "Just don't put anything metal in the microwave again."

She chuckled, and Belle rolled her eyes. "Machines of this world are confounding. Microwaves are horrible devices. I wished to understand the metal's reaction to the energy used to heat things. It uses oscillating electromagnetic energy waves, which is basically radiation, which causes a plethora of health issues from decreased Lymphocytes to the complete destruction of the nutrients required for optimal body function." Belle sprinted off on her tangent, and Ruby smiled into her hair. She loved the sound of Belle's voice, the slight vibrating rumble of her diaphragm as she spoke.

"Remind me to limit the amount of time you spend on Google," Ruby joked and tightened her hold around Belle's waist, swaying to and fro instinctively.

Belle smirked at herself, knowing her compulsion to know absolutely everything put some people off. It bothered them even more when she regurgitated random facts, but not Ruby. Ruby always listened. "Why can't all humans be like you? You're energy is very innocuous."

"You don't have to stay down here. We're not super busy," Ruby offered, dropping the words directly into her ear. Belle pressed her body back into the wolf's, calming and soothing her frayed nerves.

"Ruby," she whispered breathily and raised a hand to cup the back of the waitress' neck lightly. "I've spent far too long apart from you. I want to be here, even if those vultures pick my brain apart like a bloody carcass."

Ruby snorted and nuzzled into her slightly frizzy hair. "That's a wonderful image."

Belle smiled. "I watched it on the Animal Planet channel this morning. They're actually quite phenomenal creatures that serve such an important purpose," she spurted excitedly, which only made Ruby smile harder.

"And what's that?" She instigated another tangent, already knowing but wanting Belle's attention for just a moment longer.

"Disease control. They can ingest nearly anything without risk of dying from rotten meat, which reduces bacteria harmful to us and other animals. Plagues and famines and diseases, amazing creatures, really. Bacteria are, too," Belle explained happily.

Granny cleared her throat from the grill, and they sprang apart like a bomb blast separated them. "The Queen has arrived," she barked and rapped a metal spatula on the grease trap.

Granny glared at her granddaughter as she passed. While she admitted begrudgingly that Belle made Ruby exponentially more happy than Peter ever had, her young wolf played with fire. The instant she told her about Peter going to Regina's army, she'd known that Ruby had done something stupid in the name of love, even if she wasn't calling it that yet. Peter had every right to his jealousy, and though Ruby made a valiant effort to remain honest and true (at least physically) to their vows, she knew it wasn't a matter of if Ruby gave into her desire for the quiet woman across the kitchen but when.

Ruby may have been the leader, but the people loved Peter equally, despite their sometimes public screaming matches. She'd never liked the wastrel. She liked the quiet bookworm, though. Belle was helpful without being asked and unobtrusive and she made Ruby happy in a way she'd not quite ever seen in her granddaughter, not even as a young foolish girl infatuated with the blacksmith's son.

Ruby smiled lightly at Regina but hid it quickly as everyone focused on The Queen and her posse. A third guard had been added for the boy sandwiched between Regina and Emma. As had become their custom, the guards sat at the counter while the other three claimed a booth near the back as their own.

"Whose next?" The man who'd been eyeing Belle a few minutes ago muttered. Ruby searched desperately for his name but came up empty. She rolled her eyes and sidled up to her sister's table.

"Classy," she barbed and smirked at Emma's bared neck. Regina beamed when Emma smiled up at the waitress and tipped her head slightly, displaying more of her marks.

"You're just jealous that I got the hottest lady in town," Emma volleyed with a wink and then wrinkled her nose, remember exactly who Ruby and Regina were to each other. Regina squinted at the reaction but remained proud and tall. Emma could have slapped herself for the nonverbal slip.

Ruby raised one eyebrow in a very Regina-like manner and cleared her throat. "Hi Mason," she changed the subject.

"Hey Ruby, where's Belle?" He chirped happily. They'd taken quite a liking to one another, but the boy had never actually been in the diner with Regina before that day, so the former prisoner's reaction was unpredictable at the moment. She usually went upstairs and hid if Regina came to eat.

"Hi Mason," Belle greeted from behind her, and Ruby actually jumped, a testament to her distraction. Her ears focused too hard on what was being whispered about Regina to hear the quiet woman's approach in her flats.

"Hi Belle!" He returned bashfully and lowered his gaze as red blazed on his cheeks.

Belle grinned at the boy and then at Emma. "Hello, Emma." She ignored Regina completely and turned her gaze up to Ruby's. "I'm going upstairs," she informed her quietly and then departed without another word.

"Okay," Ruby called softly to her back and watched her for a moment before returning to the royal guests. Belle tried to find a way to forgive her sister but hadn't yet uncovered a path to that forgiveness. Not that Ruby expected her to at all, she admired her attempts to try for her sake.

"Do you need menus?" She asked far less enthusiastically than she'd been a moment before Belle's abrupt entrance and exit. She, too, needed to forgive Regina, but that came much easier to her.

"Burgers!" Emma and Mason yelled at the same time.

Regina rolled her eyes despite the grin tugging at her lips. "The chicken salad croissant and a bowl of strawberry soup," Regina ordered like a civilized human being and held Ruby's gaze for a second longer than necessary. She'd not had a moment alone with her sister since the night they pulled Emma out of the river and craved to properly thank the younger woman. The night changed everything, changed _her._

Ruby smiled and nodded. "Nice choice," she murmured and pushed away from the table. She longed for the day when Cora's reign of psychological terror ended for her sister. Regina wasn't perfect, but only a handful of people knew how incredibly sensitive she actually was. She felt too deeply, which caused her to overreact more often than not. Fewer still had actually seen her compassion.

She wrote up the ticket and disappeared into the kitchen. It'd been far easier to hate Regina when she'd genuinely felt the emotion, but over the past few years, she'd watched The Queen struggle to make things right, to fight against her mother's mindfuckery. She'd watched her grow more and more exhausted each year and feared she may do herself harm just to end the suffering.

And then Emma Swan happened. She'd not done anything spectacular or heroic as she'd always imagine The Savior would. Emma just showed up and loved Regina unconditionally, and things started changing. It wasn't as she'd imagined it. It was better. Much better. This way, she stood a fantastic chance of recovering her sister as well as her life and freedom.

"How the hell do you think you'd be welcomed here after what you've done," the gruff man who flirted with Belle challenged belligerently. Ruby whirled, catching the swinging door before it closed fully and charged back to the dining room.

"Prince Gaston, have you something more to say?" Regina asked calmly, not even slightly bothered by the man's antics. Emma shifted uncomfortably, facing away from the door and the person stupid enough to speak out against The Queen.

"Peter Black is a good man," he stated firmly. "He got a little worked up, that's all. He didn't deserve being shipped off to be dehumanized by your commanders, and now you've ordered my betrothed to replace him, doing the work of a peasant."

Ruby winced. She'd known Regina would catch some heat for their combined effort of removing Peter from her life, but she'd never dreamed someone would make such a public ruckus. She liked him even less now that he finally revealed his identity. Belle chose to enslave herself to Rumpelstiltskin rather than marry this Neanderthal. She'd mentioned him a few times, and Ruby hated him instantly and Belle's father for agreeing to the arrangement.

"This is the weirdest town," Mason muttered, watching the interaction with rapt attention. Emma suddenly remembered he was there and stood, pulling him from the booth only to come face to chest with the brute of a man challenging The Queen.

Horace was at her side in an instant, sword drawn and death glare on his usually placid features. She'd bonded with her guard on a personal level, and his protectiveness spawned from that far more than Regina's order to protect her. Gaston took a couple steps back, sensing the savage energy rolling from the blonde and her guard. His quarrel rested with The Queen, not her whore or the boy that mysteriously appeared a week ago under The Queen's care.

"Take him back to the mansion and do not leave his side until we get back," she ordered Mason's personal guard. "You, too, Horace," Emma added and touched his shoulder in thanks. Regina nodded her consent, and the man sheathed his sword and escorted the protesting boy from the diner.

Ruby took the slight distraction to step forward, careful not to physically place herself on either side. "That's enough. This is not happening in my diner."

Gaston turned on her, thick neck bulging with veins and liters. "This does not concern you, wolf."

"Hey!" Ruby yelled at him, unafraid to step between him and Emma now that the challenge had been issued. "This is my business, literally," she countered his gruff dismissal and waved her arms around the dining room. "And, Peter is my husband. Some things are larger than our personal issues, and I made a vow to bring peace to Storybrooke, to make it better. None of us like it, but we could have worse people than Peter as a soldier in this town," Ruby extended her last statement to the attentive onlookers.

"Meanwhile, you bed the woman who was supposed to be my wife. You're worse than The Queen's whore," Gaston spat viciously. Ruby's eyes went yellow, nostrils flaring with anger. Most knew of her desire to free the former princess, but not many realized that she'd fallen in love with her. Then again, Peter wasn't shy about shouting that around when the point suited his argument.

"Enough of this," Regina muttered in an unimpressed tone. Gaston disappeared in a swirl of smoke, and the room gasped collectively.

"Where did you send him?" Ruby asked with more than a hint of trepidation in her voice.

"The mines," Regina answered and stood regally, spine straight and hands clasped in front of her hips. No one but Emma and Ruby understood that she'd inherited the nervous tick from Granny or what it meant. "If anyone else cares to challenge Miss Lucas' character or utter insults against the woman bearing my mark…"

"Regina, shut up," Ruby ordered and cocked her head to the side. A palpable gasp spread through the diner from the wolf's rudeness towards The Queen, but no one dared release the breath.

"Leave him in the mines!" She yelled and sprinted towards the back stairs to the inn. Her wolf pulled to the surface immediately, and an uncontrolled rage offered her solace against the fear in her heart.

"Ruby?" Emma called and followed the wolf. Something definitely happened that she couldn't hear, and she'd be damned if she allowed Ruby to walk into it alone.

"He was a distraction! Someone's attacking Belle!" Ruby explained and bounded up the stairs three at a time. Emma struggled to keep pace, but she'd not exactly expected to since Ruby clearly sprinted at full speed.

Graham and Regina appeared at the top of the stairs in a puff of magic. Ruby barely slowed when her shoulder slammed into Belle's door. Wood exploded from the frame where the hinges and deadbolt busted free, no match for her wolf. The burly man tearing at Belle's dress found a moment to glance at the pissed off wolf before she tackled him from the bed.

They crashed into the desk on the far side of the bed, and Ruby wheezed against the pain in her ribs. Before she ever found her feet again, Regina's hand sank into the dazed man's chest. Belle scrambled to the head of the bed, and Ruby ignored her sister's savagery, following the woman she loved.

Belle fell into her chest, and Emma Swan appeared suddenly on the other side of her, pulling the blanket from the bottom of the bed to cover the exposed woman. Ruby nodded gratefully and tucked the barrier around her wounded charge. Belle sobbed silently into her neck, a habit she'd developed in the prison no doubt. Regina ripped out the man's heart with a sneer of satisfaction and turned to Graham.

"Take him to the prison. He can be questioned later," she instructed and waved her hand, ensuring they arrived without further incident by removing the physical journey from her servant's path.

"Regina, get out," Ruby ordered and hugged Belle closer. "Both of you, just get the hell out."

Emma opened her mouth to speak, closed it, nodded. Regina, however, listened to no one and lacked the emotional aptitude to decipher Ruby's need to be alone with Belle. "We must act quickly. Miss French," Regina began her interrogation, still holding the man's heart, but Emma interrupted.

"Regina," she said softly and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Later. She's in shock and will be useless right now. Wait," Emma instructed, pleading with her voice and eyes for The Queen to listen to her.

Regina took a deep breath and nodded, trusting Emma's guidance. "Call when you've recovered enough to speak," she corrected and scribbled her phone number onto the notepad atop the desk, hidden slightly behind a stack of books. Without another word, she took Emma's hand and disappeared, presumably back to the mansion.

Ruby secured the blanket around the trembling woman and lifted her easily from the bed, carrying her across the hall to the room Ruby used for the past week to stay close to Belle. She felt much better behind a closed and locked door, for safety as well as privacy. Belle sniffled and sat up while Ruby secured the door.

"Get me out of this dress," she pleaded, and Ruby hesitated exactly one second before unzipping the tattered garment and pulling it over Belle's head. "Please," Belle said and tugged on her hand, pulling Ruby's knee to the bed as she lay back.

"What are you asking me to do?" Ruby clarified, unsure of anything in that moment.

"Lay on top of me," Belle pleaded. A bruise already formed on her cheek, and a droplet of crimson wept from the split in her lip. Hand prints on her ribs formed along with other angry red welts and scratches. Belle hiccupped, and more tears leaked from her red-rimmed eyes, but no other sound accompanied the tears. It almost unnerved Ruby how little Belle seemed to notice her own tears.

"Belle, did he…" Ruby started, but Belle shook her head quickly.

She sat up again and guided Ruby's hips between her legs. "I don't want my muscle memory to ingrain that experience and replacing it so soon afterwards can sometimes help. It is akin to immediately mounting a horse after being thrown off to avoid fear of riding them," she explained. Her brain pounded fact after fact into her thoughts when she really only wanted it to be quiet and collapse into an emotional mess. Ruby would have caught her, but she'd trained her mind to repeat scraps of knowledge until nothing ached anymore.

The wolf nodded and followed Belle onto the bed, supporting her weight on elbows and forearms. She smoothed Belle's frizzy brown hair from her face, touched a light thumb to the split in her lip, ran knuckles over the bruise. Belle's eyelids fluttered under the tender ministrations, and the tears stopped completely when Ruby wiped them. "I'd have killed him if Regina hadn't been there."

"I believe you." She tucked hair behind Ruby's ears, hands still trembling slightly.

"Is this okay?" Ruby checked as she laid her head on Belle's ample chest, unable to stare at her battered face anymore.

"Of course," she whispered and cupped the back of her head, lightly holding her in place. "Ruby, was he one of your assailants?"

"Yeah," she answered honestly, hoping Belle continued to want her, knowing her life came with assassination attempts. "We're going to figure this out."

Ruby's phone buzzed, interrupting the moment, and she rooted in her tight pants in order to pull it out. Belle sighed but said nothing if the movements brushed against her in the wrong way… or the right way. Ruby ignored it and tapped at her screen until the text message from Emma showed.

_Rubes, you need to come to the prison right now. Some of Regina's guards are on their way to stay with Belle. There's something you need to hear. _


	40. Stigma

Come on, folks, stick with me. I know the last two chapters haven't been up to my usual standards in terms of writing skill, but the plot is there and important. Cut me a break for not wowing you with gut wrenching angst while I go thru my own. That said, I do believe I am back. *wicked smile*

Guest: I don't plan individual chapters, but I do have 16 more plot points. So, there will be at least 16 more chapters, probably more like 20-25 to allow for character development and particularly difficult points. (Plus, I DO love my cliffhangers.)

Thank you for the reviews and new follows! Enjoy, My Lovelies!

Song: Wound Up by Leann Rimes

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><p>Against Ruby's better judgment, Belle redressed and returned to the kitchen, preferring Granny's gruff grunts and incoherent mumbles to the solitude of Ruby's room. The wolf thought that she feared another attack, but Regina's guards never would allowed that to happen. Regina held their hearts and desired happiness for her sister as much as her own. The thought only occurred to her as she walked between two silent, beefy men dressed in the garb of The Queen's personal guard.<p>

She saved Emma's life and kept her secrets and Emma's, and Regina offered up Belle on a platter like some sort of consolation prize rather than express her gratitude verbally. Belle became an object, changing hands like Christmas gifts, and while Regina valued her as a political prisoner, she viewed her as nothing more than an object, a pawn of the game she played. This move, by the grace of Emma Swan, landed Belle in the safety of her care and protection instead of at the gallows, or worse - with Rumpelstiltskin. It was sick and twisted.

It was very Regina.

The poor woman failed to decipher joy from rage on a daily basis because it's all she's ever known. To channel and suppress and fall into line and cling to a power she'd never actually possessed because of her mother's influence. Her people would have loved the woman who married the king, but not this bastardized, wrathful version of what she could have been. She had been kind and compassionate and loving, so very loving.

A wash of memories invaded her, things she'd refused to think about for decades. Tears sprang to her eyes as a moving image of a younger Regina picking her up from the ground where she'd fallen from the pony danced behind her eyes.

"_I'm so sorry, Puppy. I wasn't watching," Regina apologized frantically and hugged her tight. She pulled back without releasing her arms and searched her tiny body with a sort of desperate fear in her eyes. Something deeper etched into her face, guilt laced with fear. Love._

"_My arm," a tiny Ruby cried. Regina scooped her from the ground, holding her little legs tightly against her as Ruby draped over her big sister's shoulders and held tightly to her hair. Ruby thought her tears never would stop. _

_When they reached the house, Regina held her tightly in her lap in the kitchen and dabbed gently at the scrape. Her cheek pressed into her hair just above her ear, and a gentle hum soothed her pain away._

"_Will you always hum when I'm hurt?" Tiny Ruby asked up at her and wiped her nose on the back of her hand. Regina smiled kindly, she always had such a big beautiful smile. Ruby hoped hers looked just like it when she got bigger. _

_Regina kissed her forehead, snuggling the thin body to her chest, content to stay put for a moment longer. "I'll always find a way to take away your pain." _

Ruby startled back to reality when the prison door scraped and echoed on the block walls. Her arms crossed over her chest instinctively, protecting her from the chill in her body and mind that this place inspired. She'd not been to this room since Belle's release and had forgotten how abrasive the silence was. That familiar dread and unshakable cold settled into her bones, her soul, and she bolted towards Emma and Regina, desperate to leave this place once more.

"What?" She sniped, too raw from the vivid memory and her environment for pleasantries.

Regina took a deep breath, steadying herself, and Ruby knew it was bad. How had she never seen the tenderness in Regina's eyes while pointed in her direction? Regina spent her entire life protecting her from Cora. She fought and bled and scratched and scraped for the last shred of sanity, all of which she applied to the one secret she'd never revealed to the madwoman controlling her life. She'd kept her promise, she'd taken her pain, her suffering at Cora's hands.

And Ruby allowed her to suffer in silence. Her wolf withstood so much, achieved so much. If she'd gone for Regina in the castle, her big sister would have stopped Cora with magic and come with her, to protect her if nothing else. Ruby held herself tighter, blocking out the thought. What was done was done, and could never be undone.

"Speak," Regina ordered the prisoner. "Who ordered the attack on Miss French?"

"Rumpelstiltskin," the man answered with a strained voice, fighting the control Regina held over his heart.

"Who ordered the attack on Miss Lucas three weeks ago?" Regina asked. When he failed to answer immediately, she squeezed his heart. "Answer me!" She screamed, slightly unhinged.

"Peter Black," he seethed thru clenched teeth, staring up at Ruby as though he might have wanted to apologize to her. Ruby gasped and covered her mouth with a trembling hand, soulful brown eyes shimmering with tears.

"Why?" Regina continued. She'd already heard the information once and so much more. He'd given up the names of Ruby's other attackers, how they'd planned to take down a wolf, and every little grotesque detail of performing the act. She spared the young wolf those particular details, but she'd desired to hear each one, to solidify her resolve.

"He paid us 10,000 each," he admitted with the decency to look ashamed of his actions.

"I trusted you, Barry," Ruby whispered. And she had. So many nights she and Peter and several of their mutual friends sat about drinking and howling at the moon and talking of a better world. And, how they intended to make that world a reality.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, bowing his head. It twisted suddenly at an unnatural angle, and the man slumped to the floor, limp. Lifeless. Execution by magic.

Ruby closed her eyes, slowly turning her head from the corpse as though the gesture might have erased the memory of the sickening _snap-pop _of her sister murdering a man before her eyes. Even Emma gasped and swallowed audibly, not quite believing what she'd just witnessed. Her eyes told her it truly occurred, but her mind blocked out the reality of it. They kept the company of a woman who'd committed far worse acts than executing a man who nearly killed not only the voice of the people but someone loved by the woman who had taken his life.

Ruby walked away. Regina's sharp heels followed her down the aisle of cell blocks, now empty of everything but the horrid memories imprinted upon her mind. The clicks fell closer together, and a soft hand touched her shoulder. Ruby stopped just short of the door and turned to find a very confused woman staring up at her. Since when had Regina ever cared about comforting anyone or justifying her actions?

"Will you always hum when I'm hurt, Regina?" She asked, repeating the question from her childhood that she'd tried to forget when Regina became something inhuman. The Queen cocked her head at the odd question, a flicker of remembrance in her eyes.

Regina stared. Ruby waited. When it became clear that The Queen intended to remain silent, Ruby bolted again, wrenching the door open with more force than necessary. In her wake, she left an echoing bang of metal on block. Emma glared at Regina as she passed and sprinted after the wolf, calling her name, offering the comfort Ruby sought in her older sister. Regina remembered, she just hadn't cared enough to repeat the tender words.

Regina clasped her hands in front of her hips and bowed her head. "I'll always find a way to take away your pain," she said to no one. With a shuddering sigh, she continued, "Even if I'm not the one soothing it anymore." And she wasn't. Ruby stood a better chance with Belle and Emma than with her. She was a machine. She took it upon herself to do what no one else dared to do, like executing a man without a trial. She protected her, but she wasn't equipped to comfort her, to pick up the pieces. She let her go.

Ruby burst into the daylight with a jolt. She gulped fresh air, suddenly able to breathe again, but never stopped moving. Emma's footsteps behind her grew louder until The Savior fell into step, struggling to keep up without jogging at a mild pace.

"Ruby, are you okay?" She asked stupidly and received a cold glare. "Right, I mean, I know you're not okay, but…" Emma sighed. "Can I do anything?"

"Make her human again," Ruby dripped harshly. The demand shocked her into silence. Her mouth worked up and down several times, but no sound slid across her tongue. Emma almost gave up, but Ruby slowed her pace as they neared the diner, and Emma's thoughts finally caught up.

"I'm trying, Rubes. It's not like she's going to change overnight. It doesn't work that way." She shoved her hands into her pockets and prayed for the strength to survive until Regina accepted her own humanity.

"Cora did this," Ruby accused venomously. "Peter doesn't have that kind of money."

"I know," Emma agreed. "And, when her guards find Peter and the others, Regina will know that, too. They are out there right now looking for them. This is bigger than the people who attacked you and Belle." The entire plot hadn't yet revealed itself to her yet, but it wasn't good. Cora behaved too civilly towards her, too dotingly towards Regina. They needed to find her heart.

"My friends," Ruby spat.

"What?"

"Not people, Emma. My friends did this. People I cared for and trusted did this to me, to Belle," she explained, unable to stop the tears that leaked onto her cheeks. She wiped at them furiously. If Regina felt half of the pain and betrayal that she felt in that moment, Ruby no longer questioned why she closed her heart down from the world and the people in it. Everyone hurt her, and she'd become a demon. It made sense now.

"I'm sorry, Ruby," Emma apologized for all of them, and Ruby believed her.

"Save her, Emma. I can't, and gods know why, but I don't think I'll survive losing her again," the wolf begged. She never wanted to love Regina again. Loving that woman brought everyone who attempted it pain and suffering, even before she'd become savage and violent. It struck her then that she'd never stopped loving Regina, she only convinced herself of that fact in order to alleviate her own guilt. She'd abandoned her like everyone else.

"Me either," Emma admitted quietly. "Cora doesn't have a heart." The weight of that submission cracked and crumbled around her as she shared it with Ruby.

"Do you mean literally or figuratively?" Ruby clarified. One never knew with the Mills women.

"Literally," Emma sniped, starting to lose her patience. They needed to get Regina to believe. "She took it out in the other timeline and put it in a box in her vault. Thing is, when Regina put it back in her chest, Cora changed. She loves her, she just can't feel it. I'm not sure this Regina will survive losing her mother." Sadness danced slowly with her voice, forging an unbreakable partnership.

"You want to help Cora?" Ruby blurted incredulously.

"If it will help Regina, then yes. I don't like her any more than you do, but we have to do something. Regina is on the brink of really changing, and if Cora messes with her while she's this vulnerable, I don't know if I can get her back again," The Savior admitted with a hint of frustration and whole bunch of heartache. She really loved her, despite all obstacles and reason. She'd just watched her kill a man without flinching, and she loved her still. She growled, loathing to admit it, "I need Hook."

"Hook? That disgusting pirate who keeps leering at me like a piece of meat?"

Emma nodded. "Mhm, that be the one. He knows Cora, well, knew her from our timeline. He might be able to help." Honestly, she'd forgotten about him completely. Regina hadn't killed him, and she had far more important things to worry about.

Silence filled the space between them as they digested the uncomfortable thought that perhaps even The Savior wasn't enough to save The Evil Queen. Emma squeezed the wolf's shoulder supportively, blocking out her own pain. They both knew the risk of tangling their lives with The Queen. Ruby needed more attention than the other things in their lives.

"I'm really sorry about your friends, Ruby. I imagine you feel like you can't trust anyone right now," Emma apologized again for the people who hurt her friend. It wasn't her place, but someone needed to do it.

"I knew things were bad, but… I never thought it would come to this. I never thought… I never thought the only person in my life who had never betrayed me would be The Evil Queen," she whispered, finally stopping at the head of the walk leading up to the front door of Granny's.

"You have Belle," Emma reminded her. "And Granny."

"Belle," Ruby breathed, suddenly overcome with an emotion Emma failed to decipher from the massive display of so many crashing and swirling in a maelstrom of pain in the wolf's puffy eyes. "I have Belle," she repeated.

She took off once more, and Emma scrambled to follow her up the walk. The bell above the door jangled enthusiastically, and all eyes shifted towards the shaken young woman with an unshakable strength. Belle's baby blues were among them, and she stepped from behind the counter where she'd been taking someone's order, fighting her own mild agoraphobia in order to make her life easier. Because that's who she was. She was loyal and unwavering, like Ruby.

"Ruby?" The bookworm spoke when it became clear that no one else would.

Ruby strode across the dining room with confident steps. One hand wrapped around Belle's waist and the other buried in her soft brown hair. Mindful of her busted lip, she lowered her mouth to Belle's, fitting it over her upper lip and to the opposite side of the cut. The room gasped collectively, including the two women creating the scandal.

"What about Peter?" Belle asked, pushing Ruby's shoulders almost frantically in her quest to understand.

"Peter tried to kill me," Ruby announced. She spoke to Belle, but the sudden rumble of whispers indicated that nearly everyone heard it. "He'll likely be executed when Regina's guards find him, and I'm tired of waiting. I'm tired of pretending that I don't love you."

More whispers followed at the use of Regina's given name. She'd done it twice now in the past hour. People noticed; Ruby ignored them. She wanted them to know of her lineage, her twisted confliction to remain true to them while loving their enemy to the core of her being. They knew nothing. They felt nothing of the very real pain they blubbered about, lamenting to her all damn day to fix their issues. Where were they when her husband and her friends attempted to take her life? Beyond the failed protests that Robin riled only to have Regina shine as the hero, where had they been? They'd not visited her in the hospital or sent cards and well-wishes. They ran and hid and prayed she recovered so that they continued to use her as a buffer between them and The Queen.

"What about the people?" Belle fought the reality of what happened before her eyes. She'd dreamed of the day, and now that it'd finally arrived, it frightened her.

"I don't give a damn anymore. These _people_ that I've fought to free for the last ten years betrayed me. They agreed to kill me for money, and I'm done being selfless. I want something for me, and I want that something to be you if you still want me," Ruby explained, growing more insecure by the second. Wasn't Belle happy?

"This is real," Belle confirmed. Ruby nodded. "Ruby. Oh, Ruby, of course I still want you. I love you, too."

Thin arms slid around her neck, and Belle raised on her toes to press her mouth to the wolf's. It wasn't gentle as Ruby's had been. Her lips and face throbbed, but the wash of Ruby's love and desire transformed it into something beautiful, pleasurable, powerful. For Ruby, it rescued the hope she'd begun grieving the moment she discovered Peter's involvement in her attack.

With Belle, maybe she had the strength to fight for her people just a little longer.

Regina appeared outside the door of the diner in time to see the romantic display, slightly surprised that Emma stood there as well. Clearly she'd only intended to peek inside without making her presence known, and Emma smiled at the thought.

"You did that on purpose," she whispered, allowing the moment inside to linger with soft kisses and gentle sighs.

"You know, then, of our unique connection?" Regina asked, though it sound more like a statement than a question.

"Ruby told me the day I fell into the river," Emma confirmed. She sucked at keeping secrets, at least from Regina anyway. Her face expressed too much of her inner life, and she'd taught Regina how to read her, which meant it'd only get harder from here to keep things from her. Instead of anger, The Queen smiled sadly, face contorting with the effort of concealing the passionate tendrils moving beneath her chest.

"This was never meant to be her burden," Regina murmured without taking her eyes from her sister's smiling face gazing down at the woman she believed to be her True Love.

"She won't stop fighting," Emma argued.

"Nor do I wish her to," Regina explained and clasped her hands in front of her hips loosely. Emma's mind dropped all thoughts and questions. Ruby had been spot on when she commented at the ravine that Regina had reasons for everything she did. They just didn't make sense to anyone else.

"Come," Regina requested, turning from the diner. "Escort your queen home?"

Emma smiled and presented her arm. "As you wish."


	41. Healing

Just so you all know, I spoil you and expect much ego-stroking and reviews for both chapters posted today. *wink*

Enjoy!

Songs: I Bruise Easily by Natasha Bedingfield, Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper

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><p>"Emma." No response.<p>

"Emma," Regina whispered a little more firmly and shook her shoulder.

"Miss Swan!" She called, still in a stage whisper.

Emma jerked to life from the dead sleep. Her head lulled towards Regina, and she jumped again as her eyes opened, apparently not having realized another person had slipped beneath her blankets. She released her held breath in an irritated rumble and rubbed at her eyes.

"Seriously, you need to coming with your own freakin' warning system," she grouched and dropped her hands to her sides.

The combination of emotions on Regina's tensed face shattered the bubble of irritation in her chest. Why else would Regina have come to her in the middle of the night? Sleep evaded her, and her thoughts tortured her. "What's wrong?"

Regina answered with a teeth-banging kiss and a firm hand on her breast. Emma moaned into the sudden stimulation, her sleep-addled brain too slow to catch up with the reasons behind the sudden but delicious assault. With a grumble of frustration, Emma pushed Regina's shoulders firmly, fighting the instinct to restrain her wrist and pull her hand from her already hardening nipple.

"Regina, stop," Emma said gently. She wasn't hurting her or doing anything that Emma found unpleasant, but Regina's sexual urges followed her emotions. Something felt off.

"Talk to me," Emma pleaded.

"All you wish to do is talk," Regina snapped, suddenly angry. She'd not slept at all, and sex helped. She told Emma so. Her body leveraged from the bed, but a warm hand around her wrist, holding her loosely, stopped her mad dash back to her bedroom. Her sanctuary.

"Come here," The Savior urged gently. "I know you can't sleep, so just lay down and let me take care of you." Compassion and sincerity shone brightly on her face, but her reasons remained hidden.

"I don't understand," Regina admitted honestly, not trace of shame. Human emotions bewildered her, it wasn't a secret anymore, not to Emma.

"You will," The Savior promised and moved her hand slowly from her wrist to her hand. With a gentle tug of her hand, Regina slipped beneath the covers once more and allowed Emma to guide her to the cool sheets.

Flat on her back, she studied The Savior's face just above hers in the darkness of the room. Only the partially full moon through the sheer curtains offered any sort of light. That familiar surge of panic gripped her heart, wrenching it upward until it pounded at the base of her throat. Emma scratched dull nails over her hair, anticipating such a volatile reaction.

"It's okay, Regina. It's just us here," Emma calmed her queen, hoping she chose the right words. With Regina, she never really knew, which was one of the things she loved about her.

"That's absurd, Miss Swan. Of course, we're the only ones here," Regina snipped and rolled her eyes, but something in her voice gave Emma's heart a giddy jolt. She'd broken thru the walls slightly and snickered.

Emma brushed a thumb across Regina's pouty lower lip, traced her scar. "I've always loved this scar," she murmured and pressed a chaste kiss to the tiny divot. "How did you get it?"

"I was struck with an object which scratched me," Regina answered in a matter-of-fact tone. Emma knew Cora made the scar, probably with a ring when she backhanded her, but refrained from pushing the subject since Regina offered the information willingly.

Emma pressed another kiss to the dimple, laving her tongue over the slight dip. Regina's breath hitched, and she kissed her properly, opening her mouth to accommodate The Queen's probing tongue. An appreciative hum vibrated their joined lips, and Emma smiled, satisfied that Regina relaxed enough to enjoy their lazy kiss.

"Emma," Regina whispered breathlessly when the other woman pulled back and peppered a trail of kisses down her jaw to her throat. "Do you intend to relieve me any time soon?" She growled, eliciting a chuckle against her neck.

"Nope. I'm not having sex with you tonight," Emma informed the stressed queen.

"Then I shall send for Graham," Regina threatened and sat up, almost half way from the bed before Emma finally decided where to put her hands to make her stay.

She grabbed her hip and held it lightly. "Your goal is to sleep, right? Not necessarily to have sex?" Emma clarified.

"I believe I made that clear," Regina huffed and crossed her arms, glaring down at her obstinate pet. Why couldn't Emma Swan just do what she wanted?

"Then let me help you without hurting you," Emma pleaded, explaining her intentions. Regina released a dramatic sigh but allowed Emma to pull her down to the mattress for the second time. Once settled, with Emma on her back this time and Regina hovering over her, The Queen allowed herself to relax, to follow Emma. She was in control. This stopped when she wanted, she reminded herself.

"What were you thinking about before you came over here?" Emma asked, stifling the urge to kiss Regina again. The Queen, however, seemed distracted by The Savior's toned body beneath the flimsy fabric of her white tank top. Her nipples belied her desire and a tiny strip of skin between her shirt and boy shorts teased and taunted.

"Hey," Emma said as her hand trailed down Regina's arm until it covered her own. "It doesn't have to be sexual." She moved The Queen's hand to her stomach, maneuvering her fingertips beneath the hem of her tank.

"That's an impractical statement when I'm touching such an exquisite form," Regina countered. Emma's forehead furrowed. Had Regina just used Queen-speak to call her hot?

"It's not exactly a walk in the freakin' park for me either," Emma bantered playfully, content to soothe Regina this way instead of talking out her issues. With a little coaxing of light tugs, Regina gave up and laid down, resting her head on Emma's chest and shoulder.

Trailing light but steady fingers up and down Regina's spine, Emma asked, "Did you always know that Ruby was your sister?"

Regina sighed deeply. "I suspected as much as a child but did not know for certain until The King took me to his castle," she answered in a husky voice and readjusted her head on Emma's chest. The grip on her waist lessened in strength, and Emma held perfectly still.

After a few more moments, deep breaths puffed across her chest at consistent intervals. Emma settled into the pillows, giving her tensed muscles completely to the mattress. Regina's sudden dive into unconsciousness surprised her. She'd been fully prepared to spend the rest of the night asking questions to keep herself awake. Apparently, Regina really truly only needed a comfort medium to bridge the gap between her two states of consciousness and had been far too tired to fight her pet too ferociously on which one she chose. Emma followed her happily, still bleary from being woken in the middle of the night.

She woke abruptly once more when a bloodcurdling scream filled her room. In a moment, she sprang upright and twisted to the side where Regina had rolled away some time in the past few hours. A quick glance at the window told her that dawn had not yet broken, and another scream informed her of Regina's vivid nightmare.

"Regina," she whispered and set a hand on the woman's hip. Jostling her slightly, Emma repeated her name. It hadn't taken much to rouse her.

Regina jerked upright, catching Emma about the throat instinctively. No wonder the maids took turns comforting her. Wild black eyes flicked over her face frantically, searching out any sign of the specter that had gripped her mind only moments before. Emma held perfectly still and forced very slow and controlled breaths into her lungs.

"Emma?" Regina breathed in a wet whisper.

"It's just me," Emma confirmed with a lopsided grin.

Regina fell forward into her chest, clawed fists twisting the fabric of her tank top at her sides. Hot tears dripped onto her collarbone, and The Savior tentatively wrapped an arm around Regina's back, petting her hair with the other hand. Always mindful never to entrap her physically in any way.

"Please," Regina whispered and sat up straight. Tears trekked down her cheeks and dripped onto her chest and arms. She never moved to wipe them or even acknowledged them.

Emma almost asked what she wanted so badly that she'd actually ask nicely for it, but Regina's lips on hers stopped the words. She turned her head, stopping the kiss until she figured out how to push Regina away physically without getting burnt crispy. Regina tugged harder at her shirt and kissed down her neck, laving a hot soothing tongue over the still-bruised muscles.

"Please, Emma," she repeated and sat back, releasing her shirt in lieu of pulling her own over her head.

"Regina, I shouldn't. You just had a really fucked up dream, and I…"

"I don't want to feel him anymore," Regina interrupted her protests and wrapped a hand around Emma's neck. The Savior was helpless to stop when Regina guided their bodies together and spread her knees to accommodated Emma's hips atop hers. "Please," she repeated.

Emma lowered her mouth to the quivering one below her before her brain caught up enough to remind her of all the reasons why she shouldn't. She practically took advantage of the fact that Regina obviously dreamed about being raped, either by Rumpel or Leopold. Did it matter? But, it wasn't frenzied as it had been only a few hours ago. Regina lay beneath her, willing Emma to touch her body, erase the abuse of another. This was healing sex, not hurting sex.

As she broke the kiss, Emma took another moment to stare into Regina's eyes, smoothe her hair, touch her mouth. "Tell me the second something doesn't feel right, okay?"

Tears leaked from Regina's eyes, and she nodded, too overcome to speak. Hot sparks of love and compassion grew in her chest, and she cried into Emma's shoulder as The Savior suckled tentatively at her neck. A whimper tore from her throat when Emma pushed away from her body abruptly, and panic swelled when she thought for a moment that perhaps Emma changed her mind or toyed with her, leaving her more vulnerable than the dream had.

"I'm just…" She pulled her shirt over her head, emphasizing her point. The boy shorts followed it to the floor at the foot of the bed. Regina nodded when Emma gazed up at her questioningly. Hesitant fingers hooked into the waist of the silk sleep pants, and Regina raised her hips instantly, showing Emma that she still consented willingly even if she couldn't say it.

Mindful of The Queen's tendency to freak out, Emma lowered her body gingerly to her lover's. Heat combined at their joined hips, and Emma groaned outright and rested her head against Regina's neck as the rest of their bodies connected. Regina held Emma's shoulder blades lightly, unsure exactly what made the other woman so aroused, but willing to wait as long as Emma continued touching her.

"I love how you feel, Regina, against me like this," Emma confessed into her neck.

She rolled her hips lightly, testing the waters. Regina gasped, and Emma froze. "Are you okay?"

"Please, Emma," Regina repeated. It was all she needed. Lips and teeth caressed her neck in barely there nips and kisses, and she pressed her hips up to Emma's, encouraging her pet to continue.

By the time Emma reached her breast with her hot and willing mouth, they created a steady rhythm with their hips. They barely parted, maintaining constant friction against both clits slicked with liquid heat of their combined passion. Emma hummed into her breast, brushing the flat of her tongue against a slowly erecting bundle of nerves.

"Emma," Regina whispered. It sounded good, but anything important enough to be spoken gave Emma pause. Regina, however, barely noticed the hesitation, head tossed against the pillow. Hair already plastered to her overheated face, and Emma reached up to brush it away without detaching from her nipple. Eyelids fluttered and opened, allowing shimmering brown eyes to meet her gaze.

It lasted only a moment before Emma moved lower, worshipping Regina's ribs and stomach with the same reverence she had her neck and breasts. Fingers squeezed and pulled two perky, light brown nipples gently, stimulating without causing pain. Her lips pressed a kiss to the top of her mound, soft hairs tickling her chin.

"No, Emma," Regina whispered, knowing exactly what Emma intended. Her breasts jogged up and down rapidly, pressing into Emma's hands and telling her exactly how scared Regina was that Emma might have refused her quiet request.

Emma nodded and kissed a path back to Regina's lips. Claiming them, she rolled to the side, taking most of her weight on her forearm and elbow beneath Regina's head. Her hand replaced her mouth against Regina scorching center, and both women moaned at the sensations exploding her body. Emma knew it was only a matter of time before she blurted the "L" word again and prayed that this was not that night.

"Don't tease me, Emma," Regina commanded breathily, and Emma decided she liked the sound of The Queen hot and panting for her.

With patience and strength she mustered from somewhere in the back of her hazy brain, Emma nudged Regina's wet slit open and slipped the tip of one finger inside, forcing herself not to go further or faster. Regina needed her, reached out for her, trusted her, and if she blew this, she'd never get it back. This act became the most important of her entire life. The mere fact that Regina came to her at all that night spoke volumes of exactly how her affection and loyalty affected the damaged queen.

She'd been so ready to change, so ready to change her kingdom. She only required an anchor to steady her in the violent waves of her rage. Regina picked her. Emma needed to be strong enough or Regina was lost forever, to her and Ruby and anyone who ever thought to care for the broken, wrathful queen.

With that thought heavy on her conscience, Emma pushed two fingers into the woman quivering beneath her. Regina exhaled harshly, eyes flying open instead of closing. A hand slipped into her tangled yellow hair and held the back of her head, keeping her eyes glued to the scared brown looking up at her.

"I've got you, Regina," Emma promised. "I've got you, and no one will ever hurt you again, not like that."

Tears leaked from The Queen's eyes, and Emma's gut clenched. "Are you okay?"

Regina nodded. "Please," she breathed, the plea wet and desperate.

Emma moved within the hot velvet walls already clenching and rippling around her fingers. She pushed in at the same deliberate pace, burying her fingers to the hilt. Regina puffed hot breaths against her face, but no fear or pain sparked in her eyes, so Emma continued moving. In and out, a thousand times she pushed into her queen without changing her speed or intention. It was… intense.

Regina held her gaze in between blinks and tiny flutters of her eyelids when something felt particularly good or overwhelming, Emma couldn't tell which. Dawn broke slowly through the window and still she'd not brought Regina to one single orgasm, nor had Regina asked for one. The amount of lubricant Regina's body continued producing without specific stimulation astonished her. Whatever happened behind The Queen's eyes ran far deeper than Emma originally fathomed to keep her on edge so long.

"Emma," Regina moaned and finally squirmed as the steady arousal became too much.

Emma took her cue perfectly, dipping her thumb into wetness. Regina gasped and nodded encouragingly when the pad of her oiled thumb grazed her swollen clit, careful not to put too much pressure in case she'd reached the point of painful stimulation. Velvet muscles rippled around her fingers, telling her exactly what Regina couldn't. It felt good, and she was close.

"Just let go, Regina. I've got you," Emma supported her terrified and trembling partner.

"I can't," Regina forced out in a sob and wrapped both arms around Emma's neck, burying her face in her shoulder.

"You can," Emma argued and crooked her fingers into the leather bundle of nerves inside. Regina loosed a sound somewhere between a sob and a moan of pleasure into her neck. Emma repeated the motion, increasing her speed slightly with shallower strokes. The constant pressure on that patch of ribbed flesh sent The Queen into crying, sobbing convulsions.

It scared Emma, but Regina hadn't pushed her away, nor had she climaxed. "I've got you," she repeated, which inspired an erratic rocking of Regina's hips. She responded so beautifully to Emma's voice, confusing and thrilling The Savior all at the same time.

"You don't have to hurt anymore, Regina. Let go," she urged her tenderly.

Nails dug into her spine between her shoulder blades. Regina gripped and milked her fingers, challenging her movements. Emma gritted her teeth against the burn in her arm and returned her thumb to the tiny bundle of nerves at the top of her slit. Teeth sunk into the muscle connecting her neck and shoulder, not nearly as savagely as their first time, just enough to anchor Regina to her.

Regina's sex clenched painfully around her fingers, trembling and rippling with waves of pleasure. The Queen stilled except for the trembling jump of her lower stomach muscles convulsing, shooting heated endorphins into her veins. Emma held perfectly still, not even bothering to breath until the height of this moment passed.

Which, in only a few moments it had. In the grand scheme of orgasms that Regina Mills had experienced, this one never rated the top 20, not physically anyway. But, it was the only one that hadn't left her feeling empty and emotionally dissatisfied. It marked the first occasion she'd ever allowed emotions to be a part of her sex life at all. Emma sensed that and removed her fingers as slowly and tenderly as she'd inserted them the first time that morning.

"Emma," Regina choked as a torrent of tears wept onto the blonde's collarbone.

"I'm here," Emma murmured and pressed little kisses to the side of Regina's head, unable to reach anywhere else due to Regina's death grip around her neck.

She groped blindly for the blanket behind her and pulled it over both of them. Somehow, she thought it might have made Regina feel less vulnerable. Something worked because Regina loosened her hold enough for Emma to lean against the pillows, taking pressure from her numb and aching arm and shoulder that held her weight for who-knew how long.

Regina burrowed into her chest immediately, wrapping an arm possessively around her waist. Emma might have thought the same about the arm she used to hold pressure on Regina's back, keeping her tucked tightly and safely against her. The Queen jerked at the soft knock on the door, but Emma found the strength to hold her more securely despite the numb tingle of the arm beneath Regina's neck.

"Not now, Astrid. We'll come down when we're ready," she called over her shoulder.

No sound followed the order, so Emma assumed her maid returned to the kitchen to complete her morning duties there. Tentatively, Emma slipped her other arm over Regina's waist and clasped her fingers together behind her quivering back. The Queen tensed for a moment and then relaxed.

"We should ready… ourselves for the day," Regina reasoned around little hiccups. Her tears trickled to a stop, but still Emma held her, protected her.

"Not today. Today, we're going to stay right here until we're ready to get up," Emma said firmly. If she found it impossible to stand up and face the day after what they'd just shared, she imagined that Regina found the mere thought overwhelming.

Regina nodded into her chest and relaxed, saying far more about her emotional state than any words might have. She'd taken an order and shirked her duties all in the same breath. She was broken, and the only thing holding her together in that moment were the strong arms around her body and the steady heartbeat beneath her ear.

"Thank you," Regina murmured.

"You don't have to thank me for having sex with you, Regina," Emma snapped without meaning to. She felt just as raw as Regina, and the comment rubbed her the wrong way. Guilt followed, but Regina seemed not to notice.

"Not for sex, you simpleton," Regina insulted her, but her voice sounded so soft and sleepy that Emma only smiled and pressed a kiss to the crown of her head.

"Then what are you thanking me for?" She asked, the words muffled by the loose kiss against her scalp.

"For loving me," Regina whispered breathily, already slipping back into the realm of sleep, hopefully a peaceful land this time around.

Emma's smile grew painfully past its threshold, and she sniffled a few of her own tears away as she relaxed further into the pillows. This morning belonged to Regina, and even if she slept until noon and her bladder burst, Emma Swan was damn sure not moving now.


	42. Surrender

Thank you, My Pretties, for all of the wonderful (and colorful, at times) reviews and the new follows! Enjoy!

Songs: Let's Go (Geronimo) by Audiogroove, Unconditionally by Katy Perry

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><p>Emma moaned. Her body tingled with the flowing remnants of her dream. Her pussy practically dripped, she felt it already, and her body swelled and shifted uncomfortably with the clench and release of the muscles at the bottom of her belly. This was the last thing Regina needed, waking up beside someone who may or may not have been sleep humping her.<p>

She stretched her arm out, finding nothing but a cooling bed. Where had Regina gone? Crap. Something hot and wet and oh so wonderful swiped through the soaked pleats of her nether region, and a throaty moan vibrated across her tongue. There she was.

"What are you doing?" Emma managed and cracked her eyes to stare down her naked, flushed, and very aroused body. How long had Regina been down there, and had she actually dreamed anything at all?

"Partaking of a cream filled pastry for breakfast. Objections?" Regina served the word volley with a perfect arc and flicked her tongue over Emma's clit.

"Thought you didn't do sweets for breakfast," Emma stalled her queen, trying to wake up to fully enjoy the attention being lavished upon her sopping pussy by the talented muscle stroking her languidly.

"I do indulge occasionally," Regina fired back and then sucked her clit into her mouth. Emma moaned loudly, hands already finding purchase in the sheets to avoid grabbing Regina's head. Suddenly all stimulation disappeared, leaving her hot pussy bare and cooling, and Emma whimpered. Actually fucking whined like a puppy denied a treat.

"You're right, Dear. Pastries can be very messy," Regina teased and moved as though she meant to leave the bed.

"Don't you fucking dare," Emma threatened before she completely remembered to whom she spoke. Regina raised an eyebrow, seemingly unmoved by the passionate statement.

"And what shall be my reward?" She pondered lasciviously. What the hell had gotten into Regina and where the hell had her grumpy demanding queen gone?

"What do you want?" Emma asked wearily.

Regina hummed and positioned two fingers against her throbbing entrance. Emma squirmed and wiggled, doing her damnedest to find more penetration. What a way to wake up, her mind registered vaguely. Even that thought disappeared when Regina slid up her body, stopping to nip at a pebbled nipple before claiming her lips.

Emma moaned into her mouth, tasting her own juices on The Queen's lips and tongue. Regina broke the kiss and moved her lips over Emma's jaw, stopping just in front of her ear. "One night when you least expect it, I shall restrain you to this bed with a fake cock attached to your hips and ride you until your stomach is soaked of me and I cannot walk straight for days."

"Fuck," Emma whispered harshly as her stomach muscles clenched tightly.

"That is the idea, Miss Swan," Regina taunted her playfully.

Emma glared and opened her mouth to retaliate but nothing came out but another moan, higher in pitch this time. Two fingers plunged into her quivering core, dropkicking her thoughts into a corner. Hands buried in dark hair and brought Regina crashing into her lips. A pinch on her upper lip informed Emma that she'd caught it between their clashing teeth, and the tang of blood told her that she'd busted it.

If Regina noticed the iron that mingled with the lingering taste of Emma, she never indicated so. She pumped furiously into her savior, taking her higher with each jolting connection of her knuckles against Emma's dripping entrance. Emma raised her hips in tandem to her thrusts, coming undone from the inside out. Endorphins raced through her blood, numbing her brain and shaking her body with adrenaline.

Her head tossed back against the pillow as heat flushed her body. She burned for this woman, and Regina fanned the flames with a vengeance of curled fingers and aimed precision. The quivering started at the bottom of her stomach. Her muscles jumped and tightened, only to release and begin the process all over again.

Her hands tightened in Regina's hair, anchoring herself to reality as the shaking in her body spread up her torso and spread into her limbs. She staved off her own orgasm, trying to make herself relax, to make this last as long as possible. It lasted only a few more seconds before her muscles contracted against her will, trembling uncontrollably. Heat roared through her body and exploded behind her eyes as digits pistoning into her tight walls stilled from the vice grip she exuded over them.

"Regina!" She loosed loudly as her stomach muscles tightened and curled so compactly that her back lifted from the bed.

Regina followed her down to lick and suck her nipple, making her squirm and writhe as a thousand barbs scraped her skin from the inside. Hot muscles contracted around Regina's fingers again as the second wave of pleasure rippled through her burning body covered in red splotches of passion.

Emma moaned and thrashed, grabbing at Regina's hair, the sheet, a pillow, anything to tether her to a quickly receding reality. Just when she thought that she might have actually begun the descent into the mindless bliss of her afterglow, Regina dislodged her fingers without preamble and slammed them to the hilt once more inside her pussy.

"Fuck!" Emma squalled, bucking and jerking as a third ripple of pleasure exploded in her mind. The edges of her consciousness wavered and warped, and had she the ability to open her eyes, she felt certain black spots would have lined the edges.

"Regina," she moaned. Over and over again, her name fell from The Savior's lips. Praising. Seeking. Worshipping the woman with only the reverence of her name filling the room around them, thickening the tension. "My Queen," she finished breathily as the greedy walls pinching Regina's fingers relaxed once more.

Gentle nips and kisses crossed her heaving chest as tiny waves of ecstasy flowed through her body every few seconds. Each crash came slower and slower, and finally Emma opened bleary and unfocused eyes to find Regina staring down at her with a curious expression on her face. Curious to Emma, not The Queen. Perhaps her sex-addled brain prevented her from reading it properly, but she failed to decipher one single emotion that flitted across The Queen's face and in her eyes in that moment.

One hand lifted from the bed and brushed Regina's face before falling limp again. "Good morning," she murmured hoarsely and followed it with a giggle.

Regina smirked at the obvious pleasure she'd given her pet and returned the greeting just as softly, "Good morning, Emma." She brushed strands of golden hair matted to Emma's sweaty forehead to the side with her middle finger and then leaned in for a lingering but relatively chaste kiss.

It was tender and unexpected, and Emma's body shook with another wave of delight. Her eyelids fluttered, and she grinned cheekily up at her lover. "Good morning," she repeated.

Regina rolled her eyes, still aware of her fingers nestled within The Savior's constricted walls. "Have you always been this moronic or have I broken your brain," Regina teased, not even bothering to act irritated, not when Emma felt this way because of something she'd done.

"Me Emma. Me like Regina," Emma answered idiotically and then giggled, too high on sex endorphins to care.

Regina chuckled and kissed the top swell of her breast lazily, bringing her back to earth or perhaps sending her back to the moon. It really depended on how sensitive Emma's body was to stimulation at the moment. She grinned devilishly and jerked her fingers free without warning, and Emma whimpered as another pleasure quake shook beneath her skin.

"Come join me in my shower once you've recovered enough to stand," Regina invited huskily.

Emma's throat vibrated at the image of a soapy Regina sliding against her, fucking her fingers as the spray beat down upon them, leaving red splotches from the blessed water pressure of this house.

"Mine's closer," Emma whined as Regina exited the bed and crossed the room stark naked. Her breasts jiggled with each step, and Emma groaned again, barely able to keep her eyes open from the delirium of desire The Queen unleashed.

"Mine has a bench, and I'd love to finish my breakfast there," Regina tossed over her shoulder.

"Fuck," Emma swore and surged upward, fumbling for balance on wobbling legs. Regina Mills would be the death of her yet. Could someone die from an orgasm? Maybe if they had a heart condition. She was pretty healthy, and David and Mary Margaret seemed to be perfectly healthy. She hadn't a heart condition, right?

"Shut up," she ordered her brain as she stumbled into Regina's bathroom and grabbed the sink for balance. At Regina's confused expression, Emma pointed at her temple and said, "The voices, not you."

Regina raised an eyebrow and adjusted the water pressure without looking at the solitary handle in the middle of the shower wall. Emma surged forward once more, and Regina caught her bodily before she fell over and guided her under the spray, holding her about the waist firmly. Warm water cascaded over them, seeping into the crack between their flushed bodies.

Emma moaned shamelessly, arousal climbing at the feel of Regina's wet skin slipping over hers. "Fuck, Baby, you feel good," Emma murmured, not even caring about the slip of endearment, and attached her lips to Regina's neck.

Apparently, Regina missed it, too, or hadn't cared. She shoved Emma onto the bench and followed the woman floundering for balance. Emma's hands flew to her hips the moment she settled her weight upon her thighs. She really wanted to press Regina's face into the wall and take her from behind, but that wasn't an option, not yet anyway.

Something broke and shifted in The Queen in the wee morning hours while Emma made love to her. Neither of them would ever have uttered that aloud, but that was exactly what happened. She'd gained her trust, restored something within the broken woman that she'd been missing for decades, and now they came at each other with a fervor born in mutual trust and desire instead of the ridiculous power struggle that began their physical relationship.

"Emma, I'm okay," Regina assured her, mistaking her moment of revelation for hesitation.

Emma sprang forward, shaking her thoughts away to latch her lips around Regina's hard and begging nipple, palming her other breast hungrily. Her other hand moved over Regina's body, squeezing her ribs and hips and back before finally wrapping around her neck to pull her down for a searing kiss.

Regina's hips rolled against her belly, and she felt the difference in heat between the shower water and her queen's dripping wetness. "God, Regina," Emma moaned, more aroused by Regina's blatant desire for her.

She couldn't take it anymore and plunged into Regina's wanting slit. Regina cried out, her voice echoing off the ceramic tiles surrounding them. Her body slumped forward, arms draping over Emma's shoulders as her hips sought that blissful penetration.

"More, Emma," she demanded breathily, and Emma obliged, adding a third finger without missing a stroke.

Regina moaned huskily and sank teeth into the muscle between Emma's shoulder and neck. Emma braced for the coming pain, reveling in her ability to make this woman come undone in such a way, to make her insane with desire and pleasure. The way Regina made her feel.

"Emma," Regina called and threw herself backwards as her back arched. Only her claws digging into Emma's shoulder blades and Emma's hand on her back kept her upright.

Her face tipped towards the ceiling as she used her knees on the bench for leverage, pushing and pulled on Emma's strong, defined shoulders. Emma watched, amazed, stupefied by the sheer display of wanton abandon that Regina displayed. Something most definitely changed between them.

With each thrust of her fingers, Regina's slick muscles gripped her tighter. She barely maintained pace with The Queen's large swooping hip movements. Her breasts jiggled into Emma's face with each inward thrust, taunting and teasing. Emma moaned right along with her, unable to stop the tightening of her own greedy sex.

Heat raced beneath her skin, and Regina pulled her head forward, trying to maintain eye contact with the woman sending her into oblivion. The consuming voracity this woman unleashed in her frightened her, and only the simple sliver of trust that wiggled inside her heart saved her from complete and utter panic.

"Emma," Regina spilled her name like a desperate prayer.

"I'm here. Let go, Regina. Let go, Baby, I've got you," Emma soothed her panicking lover.

Knees flexed into her thighs, and Regina quivered above her, much like she'd just done in the bed. Emma punched into the ribbed flesh within, curling her fingers each time. Regina's moaning climbed in pitch, her movements more erratic. Liquid heat engulfed her fingers as Regina clenched and rippled, contracting around her. With one last thrust, Regina's back arched, smothering Emma with her breasts, and a savage cry tore from her throat.

Emma latched onto a nipple and gazed up to watch the pleasure waves dance and ripple across The Queen's contorted face. She collapsed into Emma's body, loosing a throaty growl as her nipple pulled free from the unsuspecting savior's mouth. Shocks of heat and adrenaline gushed from the bundle of nerves, and her already tight muscles rippled and pulsed around Emma's fingers, squeezing them painfully.

"Emma," she breathed into the blonde ear.

Emma answered with a wicked grin and moved her fingers back and forth rapidly against her g-spot. Regina gasped and tore at her back as the second aggressive spasm wrenched her stomach muscles into a ball. Emma repeated the motion, riding her own high from the string of indistinguishable words and sounds flowing from The Queen's mouth.

In a matter of seconds, heat expanded into her stomach and climbed her torso until her entire being became an inferno burning bright red for Emma Swan. Her thighs shook and trembled, spawning an internal quake that ascended her body, following the heat, and finally surfaced as an unrestrained scream as her third orgasm crashed into her.

She and Emma both fell towards the wall, leaning their weight on The Savior's strong shoulders braced against the slippery surface. Regina laid bonelessly against Emma's chest, content to sheath her lover's fingers in their temporary home for the moment. Like Emma, the endorphins pumping into her system inspired a string of giggles, which she promptly hid in Emma's chest with a labored turn of her neck.

"Good morning," The Queen murmured and pressed a kiss to a green and yellow bruise on her pet's neck.

Emma chuckled and ran a soothing hand across her back, anchoring her to reality with the only device she had left. "Maybe you could finish your pastry with dinner," Emma joked, satisfied to simply hold Regina as the warm water pelted around them, cooling their overheated bodies. Good morning, indeed.

After a few minutes, Regina shifted, and Emma closed her knees to give her something solid to support her weight. She sighed contentedly when Emma's fingers pulled loose from the snug heat of her relaxing muscles. Emma stared at them longingly, and Regina stared at Emma. Glancing up, Emma had the decency to blush and then rinsed her fingers in the firm spray of water bouncing off Regina's back and shoulders.

"Emma," she started, dropped her gaze as she lost her nerve. Slowly, caramel eyes raised to find a serene emerald studying her, _seeing_ her. Air caught in her throat in a little gasp. Panic swelled. Emma's childish, lopsided grin quelled it. What the hell was this woman doing to her?

Emma pulled from the wall, sensing the war raging inside her queen. "What's wrong?" A slice of her own panic cut into her heart, hot cable through a block of warm cheese. "Did I hurt you?"

Regina smiled, eyes slipping shut at the frantic concern in her pet's voice. "No, Dear, it's not that."

Emma relaxed and draped her arms around Regina's waist, content to wait until Regina found the courage to speak, if she so wished. She stared down at her, studied her, decoded her, beautiful brown eyes flicking and shifting as she searched out the different emotions and thoughts upon her features. Regina's hand cupped her cheek, thumb brushing the tiny split in her lip they'd both forgotten about in the heat of their passion.

"What Gaston insinuated yesterday, I do hope you realize that was never your intended role here," Regina finally said, dodging and ducking the direct issue as she often did.

Emma pressed a kiss to the pad of Regina's thumb still against her lip. "I know that, Regina. I made this decision." She trailed tender kisses up Regina windpipe, the bottom of her jaw but stopped before they connected with those deliciously plump lips.

"Can I ask you for something?" Emma blurted, surprising both of them.

"You may ask, but I cannot guarantee to grant your wish," Regina answered politically, never backing herself into a deal before she understood all of the details.

"I don't want you to have sex with your guards anymore." Regina stiffened and drew a sharp breath to support the verbal lashing brewing in her mind, but Emma covered her mouth with three fingers, somehow soothing her anger.

"Okay, that was more of a demand, than a question," Emma floundered, searching desperately for a way to phrase her request without pointing out the fact that Regina raped them every time she ordered them to her service.

"Okay, I'm not talking about monogamy, Regina. I'd be stupid to think you'd want that after so long of having several different partners. So maybe not stop having sex with them completely if you want to. But your guards… They don't have their hearts, but they can still say no if you asked them. Their will is their own without direct orders, have I at least got that much right?" Emma explained her request quickly before Regina's patience dwindled to irritation.

"You wish me to obtain consent from my guards rather than order them," Regina clarified in much simpler and elegant words. Emma nodded, wishing she could have asked for monogamy. Regina wasn't there yet, maybe not ever, but this was good, holding her and touching her and loving her without saying the words.

"For you," Regina whispered, agreeing to Emma's request in the only way she agreed to anything, ambiguously.

Her mouth lowered to Emma's, almost capturing her thumb between them. The Savior's tongue flicked over her lip, and she met it with her own, moaning into the kiss. She gasped in surprise when Emma surged upward, securing her with possessive hands beneath her thighs. Regina hooked her ankles behind her lower back instinctively, grateful for the brief moment Emma allowed for her to adjust to being manhandled. It wasn't aggressive aside from the brute show of strength, and The Savior showed her that with the compassion and desire glowing in her eyes.

"What are you doing?" Regina asked, sliding the door open for the fumbling woman. She fought the urge to squirm out of Emma's arms, the simple act of being carried requiring far more trust than she felt prepared to give. She gave it anyway, just to see what Emma would do.

"Taking you to bed," Emma answered bluntly and took a moment to find solid footing on the wet ceramic.

"We've not showered," Regina protested as Emma exited the bathroom, seeming not to mind the extra weight at all upon her hips aside from the slight arc in her back to accommodate it.

She raised one knee to the bed and lowered Regina slowly to the blanket, both of them moving further up the bed to provide room for both women, ending in the center. Emma lowered her hips to Regina's, already rocking gently against her liquid heat as their bodies came together deliberately.

"I want you," Emma finally answered the protest in a barely there whisper that ghosted across Regina's lips a moment before she claimed them with her own.

Regina pushed up on her heel, and Emma rolled easily, allowing Regina the emotional comfort of being physically atop her. It didn't matter. She sat up, hungrily latching to a pebbling brown nipple, worshipping it with her tongue. The other received her hand, tweaking and pulling lightly, eliciting little mews and groans from above her. Regina rocked into her, wafting the scent of her musk between their damp bodies.

Emma moaned, vibrated the supple flesh in her mouth. There was a sort of desperation in her attentions that Regina hadn't previously noticed. Emma didn't just want her, she was out of her mind with desire of her. That thought intoxicated The Queen's own mind, leading her further into the unknown territory and twisting her about to confuse her mind of which direction led to safety.

She clung to Emma, nails scraping at her back and shoulders, digging up the last shreds of sanity. Only her fingers impressing tiny crescents upon Emma's skin, the feel of her pet's forehead pressed into the side of her neck, and three fingers pumping into her dripping core mattered in that moment. Everything else faded to the back ground as their bodies moved voluptuously together, bringing never ending waves of pleasure.

Hot breath condensed on her neck, and her own frantic panting pulsed tendrils of pleasure through her lover's system with direct contact upon her ear. When she came, no carnal cries echoed around the room, only soft sighs and frenzied pants. They never stopped moving against one another. Even when they collapsed to the bed after her climax, Emma's fingers never ceased to satisfy their frenetic need to bring her pleasure to a head.

Green eyes watched her over and over again… reverent, awe-stricken, lust-filled eyes touched her body as much as the hands leaving no patch of flesh untouched. Even as Emma rippled and shuddered around her equally desperate fingers now buried to the hilt, she never stopped watching, never stopped moving beneath her.

"I love you," Emma whispered into her ear, unable to stop herself.

"I know," Regina answered, despite her urge to run from the intimacy they shared. Every moment since they'd left the shower, her instincts to run warred with the intense yearning to receive this woman's attentions and offer her own in return.

Tears shimmered in those stormy green eyes now hazy with want and pleasure. "I love you," she repeated and wrapped her free arm around Regina's shoulders, pulling her down as the heat between her legs surged higher, a flame sparked by Regina's fingers pressing into her g-spot, urging her to tip over that precipice of oblivion with those words on her lips.

"I love you, Regina," she cried and bucked one last time against The Queen's hand. Her orgasm ripped through her, Regina's not far behind. They collapsed into one another, falling to the bed side by side. Emma buried her face into Regina's neck as her intense emotions of the entire experience of jumping timelines crashed into her. The Queen did little more than tremble and rest her cheek against Emma's hair, but it was enough.

This was enough.


	43. Fading

You guys really should have just enjoyed the smut. You know too much fluff makes me twitch. On that note, Enjoy!

Song: No Light, No Light by Florence and The Machine

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><p>"What do you mean they've all been killed?" Regina snapped. She'd answered the phone quietly so as not to wake her bedmate, but the moment her warden's shaking voice informed her of the incident, all propriety flew out the window.<p>

"Regina, what's wrong?" Emma murmured, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Peter Black cannot be found. He was not in his barracks when the guards were sent to arrest him. Those who were captured were murdered this afternoon in their prison cells," Regina explained, her voice far more calm than she felt on the inside.

Crap. Had Cora planted someone inside the prison or had she magic flashed into the prison to drain their lives herself? Was Peter her special puppet or was another guard closer to Regina protecting the backstabbing bastard? Another thought struck her. Had Cora possessed his heart when he paid those men to assassinate Ruby?

"Please tell me you are not serious," Emma said rhetorically, sitting up to place a hand on Regina's shoulder.

The Queen smacked it away and exited the bed. "Do I appear to jest, Miss Swan?" She snapped, not understanding Emma's incredulity for what it was. Emma mentally slapped herself. She'd just spent the better part of the last 24 hours in the throes of passion with Regina, which the dark sorceress understood. This she had not.

"No, what I meant was, we're completely back to square one? We have no idea who was behind Ruby's attack?" Emma clarified.

"I should have performed my duties," Regina muttered, already blaming herself for the events of that afternoon. Guilt would have inevitably followed the woman anyway, but they'd both needed this connection so badly. So many things required their attention - Mason's confusion, Ruby's attackers, and the fact that they'd not yet devised a game plan for confronting The Dark One about his role in Belle's assault.

Emma clenched her jaws and glanced at the clock on the bedside table. It read nearly five o'clock. Shit, they really had spent all day sleeping and having sex, which explained her loudly protesting stomach. Emma tossed the blankets back and pushed out of the bed, unable to enjoy the delicious soreness in her body. She watched Regina jerk at her clothes, barely able to get them into place from the anger shaking her hands.

"Who would have been in there?" Emma asked cautiously, careful not to implicate Cora, not yet. Regina wasn't ready yet.

"I have no idea. The warden wanted to ensure that everything had been secured before they brought dinner to them. They weren't due to be fed for another hour," Regina explained. No one ever went into the prison block unless it was required, which cut down on the amount of contraband and violent incidences. She'd designed it that way and held the warden's heart to ensure it happened.

"I'm going to call Ruby and let her know," Emma said and made a bee line for her bedroom and her phone.

"Tell her to meet me at the Throne Hall. She and Miss French need protection," Regina snapped the order, and Emma followed. The Queen's fear for her baby sister's safety manifested in anger, and Emma allowed it for now. For all they knew, Cora already struck.

She punched Ruby's name in her contact's list and switch on the speakerphone setting. Setting it atop her dresser, she retrieved a good support bra in case she needed to run and panties. Ruby picked up on the third ring.

"Hey Ems, what's up?" She sounded so happy. Emma nearly fell over in relief and took a minute to steady herself on the dresser. She sounded so happy, relaxed for the first time since she arrived in this timeline. Had she and Belle spent the day like they had? Emma smirked at the thought. Ruby deserved some happiness.

"Oh," Ruby continued before she got her black long sleeve t-shirt over head. "I talked to Hook. He is absolutely vile. How the hell do you stand him?" Ruby lamented, unknowingly sounding like Regina, and Emma heard the grimace in her voice, imagining it in her head.

She chuckled. "He grows on you after a while," she said and took the phone off speaker, holding it between her shoulder and ear as she slipped into her boots. The situation required urgency, but Ruby's light voice kept blocking the words in her throat. "What did he say?"

"Something wildly inappropriate about the effect of your relationship with Regina on his libido and that he'd happily help," Ruby answered with a laugh, no doubt watering down Hook's colorful phrases that could make even the flirtatious wolf blush.

"Figures," Emma muttered. "Does he have any idea where to find it?" Slipping into her red leather jacket, she turned her direction towards Regina's room but held still until they'd finished the line of conversation. Maybe if they found it before Regina found out about their plan, they stood a good chance of not getting blasted.

"He said he had a couple ideas, but he didn't say where. It's probably better that way. He can move more freely if he's not publicly associated with either of us," Ruby reasoned, correctly so.

"God, that's the truth," Emma agreed and then took a deep breath, steeling her mind for the task at hand. "Rubes, listen, is Belle with you?"

"Uh duh, no fucking way I'm letting her out of my sight again until this is over," Ruby vowed, and Emma believed her. She doubted Belle could have urinated with the door shut at this point. She wrinkled her nose at the thought and yelled at her silly voices again.

"Okay, good," she said and moved back towards Regina's room to find The Queen fussing with her panty hose, far too upset to handle the emotions in her heart at the moment. "Look, will you meet me and Regina at the Throne Hall?"

"Did Regina completely kiss you stupid? We're already on our way. Geez, check your texts, woman," Ruby grumped, not really that upset though slightly confused.

"What?" Emma deadpanned, and Regina froze cold. Fear gripped two hearts simultaneously.

"Check your texts, Emma. You asked us to meet you there like 20 minutes ago." Silence. When Ruby's voice came back to the line, fear laced her words. "That was you, wasn't it?"

"Where are you?" Emma demanded.

"Emma, what's going…"

"Where the hell are you? Your exact location," Emma interrupted her and stalked towards Regina who met her halfway.

"I'm right outside Throne Hall," Ruby finally said, but she sounded distracted, distant. Shit. She yapped about Hook while Ruby and Belle walked straight into a trap and now listened while her friends were possibly murdered.

"Ruby, it's a trap!" Emma yelled and grabbed Regina's hand. "Take us to the Throne Hall, now," she ordered. "Ruby, get out of there now. Ruby!"

They flew apart and came together on the plaza outside Regina' headquarters, but instead of the clear air and dull light of dusk, a blanket of horrible smelling smoke blinded them. Emma kept a tight grip on Regina's hand and pulled her to a squatting position for better visibility.

"Ruby!" She called. Let them hear her. Ruby and Belle needed her. Together they fed off the strength of the other three, even if Regina denied it fervently till the day she died.

"Emma," the faint reply barely reached her ears. "Steps. I'm on the steps," Ruby called a bit louder.

Pulling Regina behind her, Emma edged towards the location, using her familiarity with the cracks and patterns of the pavement as a guide. She was going to slit Cora's throat if she ever got the chance, she vowed silently and inched closer, unable to move quickly through the thick cloud. The wolf lay sprawled on the few stairs leading up to the front entrance, a hand pressed around the shaft of an arrow sticking out of her stomach.

"Ruby!" Regina dropped to her knees and immediately reached for the shaft, intending to pull it out.

"Don't," the younger sister coughed and then winced. "It's poisoned. It's already working. I can smell it and I can't move my legs. They took her, Regina. They took Belle!" She yelled at her older sister as if she might have miraculously conjured the woman.

"Who?" Regina demanded, maintain her queenly persona to cover the fear. The anger, however, rang true. Someone just destined themselves to a slot and agonizing death at the hands of their queen for this.

Ruby shook her head already covered in sweat from the fever of poison. "I don't know. This arrow came out of nowhere, and then the smoke started. I can't smell or see anything in this." A coughing fit seized the wolf's chest, and Emma sat behind her, holding her weight and steadying her body through the pain.

"Men, I think. Masks," Ruby forced out, allowing Emma the brunt of her weight.

Surprising the hell out of all of them, Regina snagged Ruby's hand not covered in blood and held it tightly between both of hers. "You're going to be okay, Ruby." And they flew apart once more.

Whale wasted no time removing the arrow and stopping the bleeding, but Ruby's condition deteriorated faster than anyone expected from the wolf-strong young woman. Whatever poison tipped that arrow worked fast, and Emma found herself once again helpless to do anything. She fluffed her friend's pillow and got her extra blankets when the fever worsened, but it wasn't actually helping. She made her comfortable to die.

A thousand times, Regina demanded of Whale to magically reveal the cause of her sister's ailment. Emma called Granny. They waited. Within minutes of arriving, dark crimson streaks followed the treks of Ruby's veins beneath her skin, drying them or bursting them. Whale couldn't be sure which because the poison seemed to oxidize the blood in some way, making it red beneath the skin.

The delirium set in a few minutes after that. Ruby's constant giggling almost made Emma laugh. It seemed perfectly fitting somehow, and Emma loosed a couple of her own while holding the wolf's hand the entire time. She determined to see it to the bitter end if it called for that. Fifteen minutes into her arrival at the hospital, however, the giggles stopped and the desperate calling for her lover began.

It was intolerable, and Regina pressed into the corner of the room. Her eyes hardened, arms crossed protectively over her heaving chest… the only indication of the maelstrom of emotions thundering and crashing within her chest. Ruby reached for her a few times, but Regina refused to budge, paralyzed by the trauma of watching someone she loved deeply die before her eyes again. If Emma had proof, she'd have exposed Cora right then and there.

"I won't watch this," Regina muttered from the corner of the triage room where she'd tucked herself away to watch her little sister die.

"What are you going to do?" Emma asked, her voice sounding much smaller than the grown woman and savior she was.

"I'm going to locate Miss French. If Miss Lucas should die, she should bear witness to her last breath. Stay here. You're safe here," Regina ordered, and the apparent fear underlying the words actually made Emma return slowly to her seat and take up Ruby's hand again.

"Be careful," Emma whispered, but Regina had already disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Em," Ruby choked, perhaps sensing the shift in energy and tension in the room. Emma stood and dabbed at her sweaty hair with a hand towel.

"I'm here, Rubes. Regina is going to find Belle. We're right here," Emma assured her, chin quivering as she fought her tears.

"Save her," the wolf rasped and immediately fell into a coughing fit.

"Hey, don't worry about Belle. Regina is going to find her, even if she has to rip this town apart to do it. You know how she loves her hissy fits," Emma joked in a wet, strained voice. A spasm jogged her chest painfully, producing something between a gasp and a hiccup. How could she just stand here, joking and talking? She should have done something!

Ruby's brow furrowed like she tried to laugh, knowing exactly what Emma talked about, loving The Savior all the more for her ability to withstand Regina's wrath and mood fluctuations.

"Not Belle. Save my sister," the wolf clarified. What difference would it have made now if people knew the truth? Ruby knew she was going to die and wanted her last breaths to be honest ones. Her face contorted into an excruciating grimace, the poison burning her alive from the inside out. Dark red veins climbed up Ruby's throat, emanating from the wound.

"No, no, no, no, no. Whale!" Emma screamed and dabbed at Ruby's grey, clammy face. "Rubes, you have to hold on until Whale figures out what kind of poison this is."

Ruby used her last bit of strength to keep Emma from bolting from her side with a firm squeeze of her hand. "Tell her," she started, paused to wheeze. "Love her. Sorry, I left her."

"Regina knows you love her, Ruby," Emma comforted her quietly, trying to keep a secret that was literally going to Ruby's grave with her. Smoothing her hair, Emma leaned over and kissed her cheek.

"I love you, Ruby. You're the best friend I've always wanted. We're going to fix this, okay. I'm going to fix this," Emma promised through the quiver of tears she could no longer deny. It hurt. Everything hurt. Regina was right, this wasn't Ruby's burden to bear.

Emma cupped her face, pressing her forehead to Ruby's temple. "Do you hear me, Ruby Lucas? I did this. I messed everything up, and I'm going to fix it," she declared the statement much more firmly than she believed it. She didn't know how to fix it.

Seconds ticked by, and Ruby's chest moved up and down too rapidly to provide proper oxygen in her system. It expanded shallowly and then deflated less than a second later. Over and over, the tiny pants coming from her lips sounded more like a hand pump for a basketball than the breaths of a grown human woman. _Fu. Fu. Fu. Fu. Fu._ The horrid sound came faster with each breath, and Emma wanted to scream, to hit something, to run. Something, anything that alleviated the pulsing claws of grief tearing at her, clawing and scratching and scraping desperately for release from within her physical body.

"What is it, Miss Swan?" Whale asked, barreling into the room, stethoscope at the ready. Emma squeezed Ruby's hand tighter but never answered him as he listened to her chest.

"I need an intubation kit!" Whale yelled towards the door, but his eyes remained focused on his hands as he pressed fingers to her neck, touching the hardened burgundy streamers beneath her skin gingerly.

They should have been blue and nestled underneath clear pale skin, not this. Emma focused on her skin. It stretched tight and shifted loosely at the same time. It should have been pale, Emma thought again. Her skin always shone brightly in the sun, evidence of her proclivity towards the night, the darkness. Darkness like Regina. Why was her skin this puffy, vermilion monstrosity? A bee sting personified with the entirety of a human body.

"What does… what is that? What does that mean?" Emma heard the words fall from her lips in an absent distracted voice, heart pounding furiously against her chest. Logically, she knew exactly what that meant. She'd spent enough time watching Grey's Anatomy to know what it meant when they intubated someone. But, Ruby's skin wasn't that celestial alabaster, and her mind refused to acknowledge anything but that one glaringly obvious fact.

"Her organs are shutting down, Miss Swan. Her lungs are too weak to breathe for her. I'm going to insert a tube into her throat, and this machine will breathe for her," he explained and pointed to a machine he'd already set up in the room but hadn't touched yet. "You need to prepare yourself, Miss Swan. The heart always follows the lungs."

"Ruby!" Granny's frantic voice called from the door, saving her from responding to or even acknowledging Whale's painfully honest statement of fact. Emma numbly let go of her friend's hand and stepped back to allow the elder Lucas a moment with her granddaughter. It was likely that last time she'd ever have the chance to speak.

"Gran," Ruby gasped and tried to smile at the woman who raised her. Her eyelids fluttered but never opened. Would they ever see those beautiful, mischievous eyes beaming at them again? Emma bowed her head, chest hitching and jumping sporadically with the effort of controlling her emotions. It was useless.

"I'm here, Baby," Granny assured her and kissed her forehead. "I love you, you damn fool girl," she swore lovingly at the woman who was basically her daughter. The corners of Ruby's mouth twitched as though she might have smiled were she strong enough.

"Love… you," Ruby forced out. "M'sorry," came next, and Emma rolled her eyes towards the ceiling, unsuccessfully attempting to stop the another waterfall of tears from tumbling onto her cheeks.

"Beh…" Ruby coughed. "Beh…" she tried again.

Granny shushed her gently, holding her cheek to press a kiss to her forehead. "I'll take care of her, Ruby." She pulled back and wiped tears leaking from the young wolf's closed eyes. Whale fingered the tube anxiously, knowing how badly Ruby's system needed oxygen but too emotional or respectful to ask Granny to step away.

"I'll tell her how much you love her, Ruby," Granny promised and kissed her forehead again, lingering there, searching for the strength to move. "I'll tell her that the only thing that rattled around that damn fool head of yours for the last five years was freeing her."

They were all going to stand there helplessly and watch Storybrooke's hero die.


	44. Amelioration

Thank you for the reviews! I've had to put this up early because I'm obsessing over it too much to start the next one. So, here ya go.

Enj…well, something.

Song: Don't Let Me Go by RAIGN

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><p>Darkness. It surrounded her, engulfed her. She pushed thru it. Her body tore into the veil of blackness, moving forward faster than should have been possible. Cold air burned her lungs with every inhalation, and blurred her vision slightly with each gasp of condensation. She tore through that, too, drying out her eyes from the velocity of her body through the comfort of night. Sweat tickled her back and froze the skin of her face, wind-burning her cheeks. Her legs and back protested, still she moved forward, ran towards one and ran from the other.<p>

Still, the one she fled remained. Not even the frantic and rhythmic slap of her boots on the sidewalk drowned out the voice of the one who had taken everything.

_Emma burst into the door of the mansion without closing it. Her boots tapped and echoed on the hardwood of the foyer. She'd bolted from the hospital the second Whale lowered Ruby's bed to insert the tube in her throat, knowing that the one who orchestrated this production held the cure, held her friend's life in her hands. Without a shred of respect, she barged into Cora's home office. _

_The door banged against the wall, and the smug sorceress smiled up at her, waiting patiently like a villain of a James Bond movie. "Ahh, I'd wondered if you had the intelligence to figure it out," Cora taunted her._

"_Tell me how to cure her," Emma demanded. Her chest heaved from the exertion of her mad sprint from the hospital to Mifflin Street, but none of that matter. Ruby was dying, and Regina's fragile state, barely stable on a good day, would not have withstood such a blow. She lost them both if Ruby died._

"_I'm afraid the cure to chimera venom is not native to this realm," the evil bitch teased her, grinning maliciously as palpable anger grew around The Savior, pulsing from her in hot, warping ripples._

"_Bullshit," she challenged her. "You wanted this. You wanted me here, right now, asking you for help." Emma wasn't an idiot. She knew exactly what Cora expected her to do. She studied how to be a master of cunthood from Rumpelstilskin, after all. _

"_Oh dear, I'm afraid I cannot assist in Regina's dilemma," Cora continued the charade, leaning back in her chair in a pose she'd seen Regina use a thousand times. The predator pose, flinging her dominance all over the place for the sheer pleasure of it._

"_Don't do this to her," Emma almost begged, almost lost her anger. The mere sight of the woman smirking solidified the feeling. "Cora!" _

"_She's done this to herself," the sorceress decreed._

The automatic doors to the hospital emergency room barely opened far enough to let her thru before she twisted to the side and slipped inside. She lost not one step in the movement and held the tiny vial tighter against her stomach. Her shoulder hit the locked double doors that led into the triage area, and she screamed in frustration, covering the painful jolt of slamming full speed into a locked door. Jabbing the intercom button furiously, Emma took the momentary reprieve to calm herself, but she only ended up lightheaded from holding her breath.

"Can I help you?" The nasally voice asked from the little black box on the wall, and Emma wished for her gun to shoot the damn thing.

"It's Emma Swan. Open the damn doors!" She demanded. No one denied the woman bearing The Queen's mark. The locked released with a click, and she pushed through successfully this time, returning to her mad sprint.

Barely staying upright, her body cut the corner into Ruby's room. Her heart fell at the sight that awaited her.

"_You know, don't you?" Emma asked. Dread hit her stomach like a bag of bricks, and she fought the urge to throw up. Ruby was going to die because Cora knew she shared blood with Regina._

"_My daughter concealed many things from me," the sorceress stated thoughtfully, tucking her fingers beneath her chin as though this were a discussion about the assortment of cheese on a platter at a party and not someone's life. Of course, Regina betrayed her by not offering full disclosure for decades. She loved someone more than Cora, and the elder witch lashed out in pain. When studied close enough, Emma understood most of Regina's reactions and learned habits from her mother. She almost felt sorry for the heartless bitch before, to be that unhappy or inherently evil. _

"_Tell me how to cure her, you wicked bitch!" White hot rage surged through her veins, and if that damn bracelet hadn't blocked her magic, that anger might have brought it to life. She reached for it, feeling a swell in her chest. A shimmering white flash glowed faintly around the black leather, a testament to her overflowing emotions._

_Cora's eyebrows shot for the roof, the only indication of her shock, maybe fear. If Emma ever unleashed her magic, perhaps not even Regina held power enough to stop her. Perhaps she and Rumpel combined, but not one individual person. Luckily for her, Emma Swan rarely lost control of her anger, and anger fueled magic. She relaxed again, taking up the reins of control and power. _

"_What are you willing to trade for it, Savior?" She asked, dangling a tiny vial between her thumb and forefinger._

"_Who says I'll trade anything for Ruby's life?" Emma called her bluff, just to see where it would go. "You obviously wanted me here. What if I choose not to bite?"_

"Ruby!" Emma whispered harshly, so out of breath she barely spoke at all. Her chest and diaphragm constricted painfully from the lack of oxygen in her system. It hurt like a bitch and inspired a mild jolt of panic in her mind. Ruby must have been terrified when her lungs gave out not even a half hour ago.

Granny raised her head slowly, tear treks on her leathery cheeks. Ruby lay deathly still in the bed, only the consistent movement of her chest by the influence of the ventilator and the very slow beeps on a monitor indicated any sign of life. It felt so wrong for one so vibrant and full of energy and life to be so still, so calm and quiet. The image solidified Emma's resolve. She made the right choice because Ruby would have done the same for her, and one day, Ruby found a way to repay her. One day.

"40 beats a minute," Granny said absently, holding her gaze on the monitor and not the strong woman she'd raised. The distant behavior helped her cope. Granny Lucas felt emotions deeply, just like her granddaughter.

"38," she corrected, counting down the beats to Ruby's death. Granny, too, seemed far too still. The woman always wore some sort of expression, and the lack of one freaked Emma out more.

She touched the grieving woman's shoulders lightly, and when she met no resistance, followed the touch with a firm squeeze. "Granny, I need a minute alone with Ruby. Please, just one minute."

"When she drops below 30, come get me," Granny ordered numbly. She'd already dissociated from what happened before her eyes, the puffy, swollen, sickly skin and the helplessness of the situation.

"I will," Emma promised, itching for the woman to leave her alone with Ruby. The second she stepped outside, Emma pulled the curtain, giving them a small amount of privacy.

The drawer with a printed label marked "Syringes" presented very little challenge for the former thief normally. She picked at the lock with a broken and perfectly shaped tongue depressor, but her hands shook far too violently from the adrenaline of her run and the impossible task of controlling her emotions toward the deal she just made. With a howl of frustration, she flung the depressor against the wall and leaned her head on the cool surface of the cabinet. Her eyes found the monitor a moment before the blur of tears took her vision.

35 beats per minute.

"_I'm sure you have something in mind," Emma snapped, crossing her arms over her chest and spreading her feet wide. Somewhere along the way, she'd forgotten to be afraid of Cora even though the woman could have killed her with a tiny flick of her wrist. Maybe losing the people she loved terrified her far more than bodily harm or death. She knew it had._

"_Oh, the ways you'd dance for me," Cora purred. _

_Emma shifted uncomfortably. "Just spit it the fuck out. We're wasting time."_

"_I want your brat gone," Cora began. Emma opened her mouth to protest, but a thin finger in the air stopped her. "He has managed, much like you, to corrupt my daughter's heart, which makes his disposal… tricky, not suited to this purpose." _

"_Seriously, you hate kids, too?" Emma blurted, fed up with Cora's game. _

"_They serve only as distractions," Cora explained, her voice jumping a pitch in nostalgia. The statement hit Emma in the chest, a sledgehammer of truth. Surely, Cora wouldn't have… no one actively loathed their own child with that level of undiluted hatred. _

"_Are you fucking kidding me? You did that to her, too?" Her arms fell slowly in her shock. An ache pounded in her chest from her rapid and adrenaline-filled heartbeat. It seemed fitting for that moment, for her heart to ache. _

"_Regina would have destroyed herself for a child. I saved her from the heartbreak, though I could not spare myself. Does that hurt you, Savior?" Cora asked sweetly. "Does it hurt you to know that no matter how many times you tell our dear girl the truth, she'll never leave me?" The smile that followed the malicious taunt tore at her chest and gut._

_Emma angled her face downward and to the side, fighting the bile rising in her already empty stomach. She'd not eaten anything, and it made her weak, off balance. The time with Regina was worth it, especially if Cora destroyed them with this deal. Was she strong enough? _

"_I assume my silence is a part of this deal somewhere, then?" The Savior brought her back on track, ignoring the tightening of her chest, the churn of her stomach. They needed to find Cora's heart. _

"Just hold on Ruby," Emma whispered and found strength to sit up and rip open the cabinet door beneath the drawer.

Removing the shelf and moving spare gowns to the side, she laid on her back in the cabinet and jab the heel of her hand with full force into the bottom of the drawer. It felt wonderful to hit something, to release the pent up energy and anger and pain. She lost track of how many strikes it took to budge the relatively cheap chipboard, but eventually, it gave way and individually wrapped needles tumbled down around her.

Picking the one that looked right, she filled it with the burgundy liquid from the vial and set it on the bed beside Ruby's thigh. Her shaking and swollen hands fumbled to work the damn syringe, but Emma found the ache soothing. It felt better than the anguish in her heart. Her eyes searched desperately for something to use as a tourniquet and landed on the oxygen hose that Ruby no longer required.

"You'll make it up to me," Emma comforted herself with the thought and slapped at the veins in the crook of her elbow. If anyone asked, she'd have truthfully confessed to having no damn idea what she was doing. Whale should have administered the antidote, but the deal with Cora prevented anyone from ever knowing how she'd saved her life, or even that she had.

32 beats.

Holding a deep breath, she poked at the vein dancing around in her friend's arm. Finally, a little crunch-pop reverberated in her fingers told her that she'd finally entered a vein. She pushed half the antidote into that arm and then repeated the process with the IV stint in the other, giving it two access points as Cora instructed.

After putting the needle in the sharps container, reattaching the oxygen tube, and hiding the mess she'd made behind the cabinet door, Emma opened the curtain and called for Granny. It either worked or it didn't. Either way, Granny belonged at the young wolf's side. Without a task to occupy it, her mind slowed enough to process her reality, replaying every single second.

"_You'll give me far more than your silence, Savior."_

"_What the hell do you want?" Emma yelled, throwing her hands in the air to expel the building anger and nerves. _

"_You will end your physical relationship with my daughter," Cora stated plainly, no room for error or mistake._

"_What?" A horse kicked Emma's chest. She'd not expected that. She really had not, not for a second._

"_I love her, Cora. Doesn't that mean something to you? To see her happy… well, happier than she has been in so long," Emma appealed to her motherly instinct on the off chance Cora had actually been born with one. _

"_Her happiness will be her undoing," the sorceress seethed, slamming a hand on the desk as she shot to her feet. _

"_Isn't that what everyone wants? To break the curse without waging a war against The Queen?" Emma countered, uncaring of the tears streaking down her cheeks or the hollow rasp in her voice. Cora already knew how the deal shredded her heart. _

"_Perhaps those fools want to die. I do not, nor do I wish to rescind one scrap of power I've worked my entire life to obtain," she explained nothing The Savior hadn't already deduced. _

"_True Love's kiss won't break the curse completely. It didn't in my timeline. The protective barrier against the outside still existed. Magic still existed. You'd still have power. Please don't ask me to do this," Emma pleaded, forgetting to be angry. She couldn't lose Regina, not like this, but they both knew that she'd not allow Ruby to die like this. Not puffed up from poison and a shadow of her former self. _

"_It isn't your kiss that concerns me, Savior," Cora snarled, eyes dropping to Emma's stomach for a brief moment, a slip up._

"_You think I'm going to get her pregnant? Oh come on, even you've been in this world long enough to understand how that works," Emma provoked the older woman, hoping to obtain more information about her game plan. _

_It only ended with Emma feeling a punch in her gut again. "You really did it, didn't you? You cursed her so that she'd never have children. It wasn't Rumpelstiltskin, and now you're scared that the birth of…what, a magical messiah baby of The Savior and Evil Queen will destroy the barrier for good? Do you know how stupid you sound?"_

_Cora's lips pulled into an ugly snarl, and she raised the vial of antidote, wiggling it slightly in loose fingers. "Tic tock, Savior."_

"Ruby!" A frantic, accented voice called from the hallway. Belle rushed to her side, nearly tackling Emma out of the way in her haste to reach the wolf.

"You found her?" Emma blurted, not meaning to question Regina's abilities.

Regina nodded once and released a deep breath. "Graham followed one of her dresses I charmed with a locator potion to a cave at the north end of the forest. Whoever took her knew that Robin and his men reside in the south." Regina almost beamed with pride. She'd brought her sister's lover home before Ruby died. At least Belle got to say goodbye with the chance that Ruby actually heard her in the delirious, seemingly unconscious state.

Instinctively, Emma reached out for her queen, and Regina actually allowed the desperate hug Emma bestowed. "Regina," she whispered, glancing towards the heart monitor. Conflicted tears spilled onto her cheeks, and she dropped her arms, wrapping them around herself in a pathetic attempt at comfort.

45 beats per minute.

"What is it, Emma?" Granny shifted, noticing Emma's discreet glance towards the monitor. Ruby improved steadily for the past ten minutes since she'd returned. She suspected that Emma had done something, and now she knew it for certain.

"Regina," Emma whispered, bowing her head, unable to gaze at those beautiful caramel eyes any longer. It hurt. Everything hurt.

"Is this another instance of you requiring a hug?" Regina probed hesitantly, desperately seeking understanding for Emma's uncharacteristic reticence. Emma sobbed harder, remembering the last time they'd stood by Ruby's almost-deathbed. The child-like grasping at human emotions only made her love The Queen more.

"Regina," she hiccupped, completely delirious from the grief in her heart. Maybe she'd read the monitor wrong. Cold guilt twisted her guts, a kid taking to bubble wrap with a vengeance. How could she even have thought such a thing, much less wished she'd been wrong about her friend's survival. Soft hands touched her cheeks, wiped her tears. More spilled onto the trembling fingers.

She'd done the right thing. She had. Emma tried to believe that as she melted into Regina's embrace, fisting her shirt like a lifeline. She'd done the right thing. So, why did everything hurt so much? Regina stiffened under the hysterical sobbing from the woman who always seemed so in control, so aware of the others around her. She glanced helplessly at Belle and Granny, searching for guidance from the women staring at The Savior with wide, shocked eyes filled with as much confusion as her own.

Emma pressed her mouth into Regina's shoulder, muffling the uncontrollable wails. She blinked, just once, just for a moment. Dazed dark brown eyes, slit enough to see, stared up at her from the hospital bed. For that one moment, the world held still, and Emma forgot to cry. For that one brief second, she felt no pain. The rush of reality that followed slammed into her harder than before, and she tightened her grip on Regina, knowing it probably was the last time she'd feel the other woman pressed against her.

58 beats per minute.

"I love you, Regina."

"_What's going to stop me from breaking this deal the moment Ruby recovers?" Emma challenged her lover's mother._

_Cora grinned, but there was no warmth, no twinkle of mischief in her eyes. Only unadulterated hatred, evil. "If you dishonor our agreement, I'll hurt her in ways you've never imagined. I'll make her wish for death." _

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><p><strong>Just for you guys, a snippet of conversation. <strong>

**Me: I don't want to edit this chapter. It hurts.  
>pixip53: Omg you were too evil for yourself?<strong>


	45. Sovereignty

Thank you so much for the reviews and follows! We're entering the last frenzied leg of this journey, so hold on tight and hopefully I will take you on a wild ride. :) Enjoy!

Song: Rain by Patty Griffin, Fix You by Mysha Didi

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><p>"Emma?" Regina's concerned voice called into the darkened room.<p>

At some point the previous day, Emma hung a spare sheet over the window, blocking out the brightness of the day. The sight of it inspired an irrational anger that she hadn't the strength to contend with, not while she grieved for Regina. She knew laying there forever wasn't a viable option, but she'd yet to uncover what exactly to do, how to move forward without damaging Regina. So she chose to do nothing for the moment.

"Astrid informs me that you wish to remain in bed again today," she continued when Emma failed to answer. It was the second morning after Ruby's attack, and she'd only moved from that spot in the middle of the bed a few times to use the bathroom and hang the sheet.

"I brought chicken broth," she explained as she set the tray on the desk and turned to clasp her hands in front of her hips. "I haven't a clue why, but Astrid has assured me it is the appropriate course of action when one is ill," Regina admitted anxiously. Something was wrong with Emma, and it unnerved her in a very uncomfortable and confusing way.

The caring gesture and Regina's helplessness in the face of emotions brought the sting of tears to Emma's throat, and she swallowed the ache, tucking it away with the rest of her emotions. A few tears slid over the bridge of her nose anyway, and she almost rolled over to face the door instead of staring at the woman she loved fidgeting by the window.

Regina released a noisy breath and crossed the room. Emma thought she meant to leave, but the bed dipped behind her a moment later. A light hand touched her hip, a preamble to the warm body that pressed into her back. Her eyes slammed shut and the undeniable sensation of comfort and rightness that came with the physical contact. Regina pressed a tender kiss the side of her head, and a tiny sob bubbled up from her throat. Emma taught her the basics of comfort, and she exercised them, proving her will to change.

To stop making excuses, as she'd said that day outside the convent before she spent two hours making dolls magically dance for orphans and homeless children.

"_Define physical relationship," Emma demanded, wanting to be absolutely certain to what she agreed._

"_You shall initiate nothing, and should Regina's attentions become… overly amorous, shall we say, you will decline her request. You may escort her as her chosen pet, but anything beyond your duties is strictly forbidden," Cora explained the deal with a sick sort of glee. _

This wasn't breaking the rules, Emma reasoned and allowed herself to relax into Regina's body. She inevitably felt the shift in muscle tension because the grip on her hip tightened and the kiss moved to her neck. It wasn't sexual.

"Your silence irritates me," Regina sniped in such a way that made Emma smile through her tears. It wasn't angry, and the aggravation that laced the tone came from Regina's own inability to communicate properly what she wished to say.

"How's Ruby?" Emma asked, voice rasping from lack of use.

Regina smiled against her neck, sighing in relief. Emma stifled a shiver. "Miss Lucas has recovered quite well. Dr. Whale repaired the damage to her abdomen and assures me that her blood work has nearly returned to normal levels. If she continues improving at this consistent rate, she will be released tomorrow." The relief and pride in Regina's voice tore at her. She loved Ruby so much but hadn't yet discovered how to express it to the young wolf.

A genuine smile stretched on Emma's lips. "That's great," she murmured. It truly was. A part of her dropped disappointment into her stomach, and Emma immediately burned with guilt. She was the fucking savior, this was what she did. She saved people, no matter the cost.

Most costs hadn't hurt her this much.

"She asks for you each time I visited her," Regina said bluntly. "Do you intend to remove yourself from this bed any time in the near future?" Crap, she totally wasn't buying the whole being sick thing. After her breakdown at the hospital and then her refusal to speak the rest of the night, even Regina noticed how oddly she behaved.

What else could she do?

"I'm just…" Emma started and scrubbed a hand over her face. "You know what, yes. Just give me a few minutes to shower and get dressed?" Even if she wanted, laying there to die wasn't an option.

Regina's hand danced over her stomach, dipping beneath the waist band of her boy shorts. "Shall I join you? I'd never forgive myself if you fell and bumped your head because of your… illness," The Queen purred in her ear. Regina _so_ hadn't bought her story.

Emma sighed, wanting more than anything to accept the offer. A pang of grief contracted around her heart, and Emma gently stilled the fingertips brushing the stubble of her neglected mound. "I'm really not in the mood, Regina. I really don't feel good," Emma let her down gently. Technically, she hadn't lied. She felt awful.

"Oh," Regina answered and sat up, placing her hands in her lap. Biting at her lower lip, she stared at the unmoving appendages. Emma clenched her jaws and forced her gaze away from the heartbreaking sight of Regina Mills struggling to accept her rejection.

"I have cramps," Emma lied with the first plausible and reasonable excuse that occurred to her. "I think I'm going to, you know, start today because I usually start cramping up a day or two in advance." That bought her nearly a week of excuses. Maybe by then, she'll have figured something out.

"Oh!" Regina exclaimed, head jerking upright. "I've heard such monthly experiences could be painful. I'm sorry for questioning you," she apologized immediately, and tears blurred Emma's vision. Regina tried so hard to be human, and their relationship played a huge part in that.

"Yeah, mine are usually pretty long… I mean, like five to seven days long," she lied again. "Wait… what do you mean when you say that you've _heard_ periods can be painful?" The statement finally sunk in, and Emma instantly regretted asking. She already knew. That's how the curse worked, that had to be it. It prevented ovulation.

"I've never experienced one, though I'd been prepared by maids and servants from the age of ten," Regina explained what Emma already deduced. The Queen sounded distant, like she knew her lack of menstruation connected directly with her infertility, like it made her less of a woman or a biological failure. Cora planned this early, years before she married The King.

"I'm sorry," Emma whispered and sat up quickly to hide the tears threatening to fall. She scrambled for control of her emotions and swallowed the burn as best she could, careful not to blink lest they be dislodged before she reached the safety of the bathroom.

"You've only just stated how horrid the experience can be. Why on earth should you apologize that I've never been subjected to it?" Regina asked, confused, incredulous, offended. Emma couldn't tell anymore.

Emma backpedaled, searching desperately for an excuse. "No, I'm sorry, that I'm in such a horrible mood," she amended, praying Regina believed her. "My hormones get all out of whack, and I'm a moody mess. So, I'm sorry."

Regina hadn't just believed her, she shocked the hell out of her. Walking across the bed on her knees, Regina squeezed her shoulders and then worked her thumbs into the tight muscles. She knew how to give massages? Of course, she did, Emma's libido supplied.

"Astrid used to soothe me in such a way during her time as my chambermaid. It nearly always worked," Regina explained, sensing Emma's question in the shimmering green eyes that darted over her shoulder only to jerk quickly to the floor. Regina progressed so dramatically in such a short period of time.

Granted, their relationship had been sexualized and explored on emotional levels that came with super good sex. Regina understood sex, carnality. The emotional orgasm Emma provided after her dream sparked the previously absent emotional aspect. In her mind, she and Emma were forever linked by that experience. She sought out Emma that morning to recreate that feeling, not necessarily for physical release, especially not after their marathon less than 48 hours ago.

Emma patted her hand and smiled up at her. "Thank you, Regina."

The Queen responded by wrapping a hand around her throat, stroking her windpipe tenderly with a thumb, and towered over her for a kiss. Emma relaxed further into the dominating embrace, Regina's breasts pressing into her shoulder blades. She hummed contentedly and pulled away from the kiss. "Cold shower now," she teased and left the bed before Regina thought to deepen the kiss further.

Upon glancing over her shoulder, Emma nearly keeled over in relief that Regina wore a devilish grin rather than an expression of hurt and confusion. As long as the contact remained at a minimum, her deal remained honored and Regina remained safe. She closed the door behind her and practically lunged for the shower, covering the harsh sobs that tore from her throat.

"I'm sorry," she hiccupped, bowing over the cold edge of the tub. Her arms dangled over the edge, hands susceptible to the cool spray. Her mind barely registered the frigid water numbing her hands and forearms, beating her flesh a rubicund.

Tears dripped onto the unrelenting chill of the porcelain. They'd just broached the finish line. Regina was right _fucking_ there. Without the physical reassurance, Emma's words meant next to nothing, and without sex, Regina slipped thru her fingers. She related the act with emotions, angry sex and happy sex and painful but healing sex. Sex gave them their first foothold in trust. It was important to Regina. Everything she'd endured the past five weeks fizzled and died in a vain effort of making a difference without their connection sex offered.

A scream bubbled in Emma chest, clawing and scraping for release. She held both hands over her mouth and pressed them into the lip of the tub, cementing the urge inside. It felt like a living, breathing thing holed in a wall and scratching at the mortar and brick for freedom. Nails broke and chipped on the rough surface, scoring her heart permanently.

Her back and shoulders hunched forward, collapsing over the hastily constructed wall pressed painfully against the porcelain brace. They shook and jerked violently, throwing hollow wails at the barrier, but Emma held strong. This wasn't Regina's burden, and if she knew of her upheaval, she'd have blamed herself or planted the seeds of insecurity in her mind when Emma refused to tell her the cause.

She bore this for Regina.

She didn't know the other woman stood paralyzed on the other side of the door, catching her apology and early sobs before she muffled them.

The Queen backed slowly from the door, more confused than hurt. Emma had been receptive to her touch. Desire still burned in her eyes, yet she hid her tears. Regina stared at the door, searching in the wood for answers she'd never find, not without the help of the woman on the other side. Emma Swan explained everything patiently and in a way she understood. A queen required no use for emotions, not when she ordered something so and it became reality.

Relationships. Sex. Loyalty. She commanded those things.

Love could never have been commanded, yet Emma gave of it freely. She entrusted secrets to Regina and kept Regina's in kind. Those things baffled her, and Emma explained them, taught her how to behave compassionately. Now, Emma needed the favor returned, and Regina froze, lost in the stormy sea of confusion that always accompanied thick emotions beyond the burn of anger.

Regina ran. Not literally, because that wouldn't have displayed the propriety drilled into her since birth. Figuratively, she sprinted towards the only other person who ever unraveled the mysteries of emotions. The one who helped her obtain Emma's affections in the first place, who gave her the freedom to try despite her disapproval.

"Mother, I don't understand," Regina blurted as she barged into Cora's private chambers.

"Honestly, Regina, you have spent far too much time in the company of those maladroit peasants," Cora chastised from the vanity, not bothering to glanced up from the mirror she used to apply her eyeliner.

"Mother, help me," Regina pleaded. Panic gripped her heart, squeezing until it pounded violently at the base of her throat in protest against its restraints.

Finally, Cora raised her eyes to her daughter's in the mirror and lowered the black pencil. "What's happened, my little queen?" She cooed, filling Regina with hope and relief.

"Something has upset Emma," Regina explained.

"Ah yes, I've noticed a blatant change in demeanor. Since the attack on Miss Lucas, I believe," Cora confirmed, allowing a dark undertone to slip into the words.

"Yes," Regina chirped, excited that her mother understood her dilemma. What happened to Ruby changed Emma that night.

"Oh my darling girl, I hadn't realized you'd fallen so hard for The Savior," Cora murmured sadly and turned in her chair. She held her hands out to her daughter who took them and knelt at her feet, searching for guidance. She wanted to understand.

"Do you love her, Regina?" Cora asked suddenly, tucking some black strands behind her ears and lingering to cup her cheeks tenderly.

"Love is weakness, Mother. You taught me that," The Queen answered automatically, not really aware of the words tumbling from her lips. Of course, she'd not fallen in love with The Savior. She only sought Emma's guidance and the release of their newly found sexual compatibility.

"You know it to be true, Regina, but think of what you feel, not of what you know," Cora encouraged. She ducked her head and caught Regina's gaze when she lowered it. "If you cared nothing for her, would you be so distraught at her upheaval?"

Regina raised her eyes slowly. "Do you believe The Savior is the one to break the curse?" Regina's mouth said the words, but her eyes spoke a completely separate question. Will Emma Swan bring me happiness? Will she be the one to love me so unconditionally that I have no option but to return it?

Cora smiled sadly. "No, dear, I don't," she pulled the plug on the bright hope in Regina's eyes. "Not by loving you," she added.

"But, she does love me, Mother," Regina argued. She knew it. She felt it the night Emma erased Rumpelstiltskin's violent touch from her mind. She saw it in the desperate need of her Emma displayed the next morning, the tender care she took to comfort her when she'd panicked in the shower.

Love looked like that, she was certain.

"She also loves the wolf," Cora pointed out maliciously.

"What?" The whiplash of the elder witch's words caught her off guard. Of course, Emma loved Ruby. She'd never behaved secretively about their connection in the other timeline.

"Hasn't she stated her love of Miss Lucas as well, and most of what she's done since arriving has ensured her wolf's happiness and well as her own. Miss French, your son, those were not deals struck with your wellbeing in mind, my darling," Cora twisted her thoughts, played with her emotions. She'd always controlled her daughter so easily, and now she meant to hurt her, to confuse her.

"No, those…" Regina searched for a defense for Emma's actions, but none came. "She protected her son, and she cared for Miss Lucas in the other timeline. Of course, she wished her to be happy as you wish me to be," she reasoned, proud of herself for deciphering the actions so well.

"She came to me that night, Regina," Cora confessed quietly, her voice the softest timbre. "I gave her the cure that saved Miss Lucas' life. I recognized the chimera venom immediately once she described the symptoms to me and very luckily had a vial of antidote in my vault."

"What? Why would she not tell me? Knowing the poison narrows the suspects, given the accuracy of their aim," Regina floundered. Everything made sense, yet nothing fit together.

"I don't know, my darling girl," Cora cooed and wrapped her arms around Regina's shoulders, offering her the emotional support and comfort she so clearly sought.

"She saved Ruby's life without informing me," Regina spoke aloud, attempting to puzzle together her thoughts aloud. Ruby recovered due to her wolf, right? She overcame the poison on her own. Emma would have told her.

Regina resisted her mother's insinuation. What she said made no sense in her heart but perfect sense in her brain. Emma's words rang true, sometimes Cora gave an incorrect order. She hadn't killed Emma and found a piece of herself she'd thought long dead. Her mind and heart refused to believe Emma capable of that sort of betrayal. "Have you proof, Mother? Of her visit to you?"

Cora jerked back abruptly, a wildness in her eyes. "When is my word not enough for you?" She demanded indignantly.

"Because I could love her," Regina declared, a little unsure of herself. The world stilled under the gravity of that moment. The statement hung between them, an invisible representation of the wedge The Savior had driven between them. Gathering her resolve and jumping past her surprise at the very truthful statement, Regina took a deep breath and explained herself.

"You asked me if I did, and the answer is no, but I think, in time, I might learn how. She's very…" A rush of emotions lit Regina's face, but she killed them within seconds. Emma took her pain, swallowed it with the tenderness of her compassionate touches and gentle words. If her proclamations of love were not true, who in their right mind would have done such a thing after the abuse she rained upon her in the earlier weeks of her time here?

"I don't understand," she repeated and slowly pushed off Cora's thighs, pulling her spine straight as she found her feet.

"Regina," Cora whispered with the audacity of a mother scorned, burned, hurt to the core. The Savior enamored her little queen far more than anticipated, tempting and tantalizing her from the person she'd molded her entire life. White hot rage flashed violet in her eyes, and Regina's narrowed at the internal reaction of her defiance.

"No, Mother, I don't understand," she repeated angrily. "Why urge me to her arms if you questioned her motives? The sincerity of her words?" Regina demanded. What the hell happened in her own house?

"Regina, you're upset," Cora started with hands stretched towards her daughter.

"No, Mother," she thwarted the other woman's reach for her with the firmness of her words. "I don't understand," Regina said for the third time and pulled her spine straight, finding strength to stand on her own. "But I will."


	46. Albatross

Just a warning, there may or may not be a chapter tomorrow. After ending our 5 year relationship last weekend, my former partner and still best friend in the entire universe and I have decided that we should go do something completely separate and silly and true to who we were before becoming an us instead of dismantling our life together. So, while she enjoys her movie nights in with an old college friend three hours away, I shall be drinking obscene amounts of tequila with my old theatre company while enjoying a nice string of one-acts performed at a small performance restaurant (not sure what else to call it, there is always some sort of artsy thing happening there) that I've been away from for far too long. Wish me luck that this doesn't end in a one-night stand with a well-muscled tech with a handsomely scruffy beard or a certain beautiful blonde actress with vocal cords blessed by the sirens themselves. OR some combination of the two, dear gods. And if it does, well, hey ho! More fodder for my filthy mind. (and we wonder why our compatibility eventually ran out, haha).

Thank you for the reviews and follows! Enjoy Lovelies!

Song: Unconditionally by Katy Perry, Ultimate Sacrifice by Madilyn Bailey (Emma)

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><p>"<em>Even though porridge is a perfectly suitable meal for a bear, I couldn't resist asking my mother if we were having Goldilocks over for dinner. My father was still in earshot as he headed over to the living room couch, where he normally took his three o'clock feeding. It took one look from him to send me airborne in the direction of the stairs, which I took two steps at a time."<em>

Emma stepped around the corner of the hospital room that housed Ruby as Belle paused to turn a page of the book she read to the wolf. "Seriously, Rubes?" She laughed, knowing exactly what she'd conned Belle into reading to her. She'd made the right choice in saving her life. The moment only solidified it. The guilt would have crushed her had she not gone to the ends of the earth to keep these two women together and happy, even if it meant her own.

"What? I got tired of Jules Verne," Ruby defended, grinning like a shit-eating possum without opening her eyes. Regina said she'd slept a lot. She should have died, but her wolf once again saved her life.

"I'm not sure Chelsea Handler is a good substitution," Emma pointed out, lingering by the door with her shoulder leaned against the frame and arms crossed tightly over her chest.

"I agree," Belle joined the conversation. "Though, I have found many lines of this prose amusing, it is not proper literature." Emma snorted and rubbed a hand over her face. She never thought she'd see the day when Belle French, the fairytale princess, critiqued a book called Are You There, Vodka? It must have physically hurt her to make this sacrifice for her lover. Emma smiled.

"Ah, Baby, but it makes me smile," Ruby pouted and touched her girlfriend's face without opening her eyes, like she knew exactly where every part of her body had been the entire time. Knowing Ruby, the wolf probably tracked ever single movement, including the number of breaths and heartbeats per minute. "And it sounds much better in your accent," she added sickeningly.

"Diabeetus," Emma grumbled like that guy from the television and twitched, wanting to move closer but not willing to invade their space. Within three days of publicly admitting their love for one another, they'd already achieved the level of tummy-aching sweetness that the original Belle and Ruby had created over the last three years. She ached to be closer. They deserved some recovery time.

Bullshit, she called herself out in her mind silently. A part of her had wanted Ruby to die to spare Regina, and now she felt unworthy of the wolf's unwavering friendship. She was only human, Ruby understood that, right?

"That's fantastic, Dr. Whale," Regina's voice interrupted the moment just before the woman appeared at Emma's side. She clasped her hands in front of her hips and offered a small smile to her little sister who finally opened her bleary eyes. Bloodshot lines contrasted starkly with the whites in her beautiful brown eyes and the paleness of her face. She looked better, but the venom had taken its toll. She was weak, still.

"Dr. Whale has declared you well enough to go home should your blood tests show normal levels this afternoon," The Queen announced to the room, more than a little relieved.

"Bout frickin' time," Ruby grumped, though her eyes already closed again from the effort of opening them to share an emotional glance with her big sister. Belle's gaze bounced back and forth between her lover and the new arrival. After an awkward moment of silence, she dropped her book on Ruby's lap and moved to the other side of the bed, keeping both in her immediate line of sight.

Regina stepped past Emma and into the room to sit primly on the edge of the seat her former prisoner just vacated. She cleared her throat and wrung her hands. "Miss Lucas, I'd like to temporarily move you to my mansion for protection while you recover."

Ruby's eyes flew open again, and Belle jerked visibly from the shock to her heart. The wolf squeezed her hand a little tighter, and the princess settled. "I think I'll be safer at Granny's," Ruby deadpanned, meeting Emma's eyes for exactly one second before returning to Regina's. "Thanks, though."

"I don't understand," Regina huffed, struggling to accept the quick rejection. "My house was designed for safety and protection."

_No, fucking way I'm sleeping under the same roof as Cora,_ Ruby said silently. "I don't want to be there, okay?" Ruby defended her decision with her usual sass, covering the jolt of fear the mere thought of the soulless woman caused. "I want to be with Belle," she added in a much softer tone, telling small fibs to protect Regina from the harsh truth of her mother's hand in her attacks.

"Miss French may accompany you. I have adequate lodging space," Regina compromised with her little sister. She looked so hopeful that Ruby nearly gave in. Belle saved her from making the decision.

"Not bloody likely," the former princess swore and fixed a cold glare on Regina's face.

The Queen grappled with the urge to reprimand the younger woman, and Ruby and Emma held their breaths. If it came down to choosing Belle or Regina, Emma actually wondered which decision she'd make. She'd pined after both so long. In a stroke of pure humanism, Regina nodded, releasing Ruby from what would have been a painfully uncomfortable situation.

"Of course, I shall make security arrangements for Granny's," she conceded, bowing her head slightly. It was subconscious, but she just acknowledged Belle's dominance in Ruby's life. It was a giant step forward, and oxygen filled the room again.

"You know, eventually people are going to start questioning why you're protecting me so much," Ruby pointed out, throwing out the fear that had secretly been playing in the backs of their minds. Emma shifted uncomfortably by the door and dropped her gaze from the wolf's when it jerked to hers at the sudden and telling movement.

Regina looked between the other three, slightly confused but searching. Ruby rolled her eyes and explained, "Everyone in this room knows who I am to you, Regina, and after the past few days, I'm sure everyone in town is wondering the same exact thing."

Regina straightened in the chair and crossed on leg over the other. "Perhaps it's time," she murmured, inspiring three jaws to drop in shock. Sucking a deep breath before anyone else recovered, she stood and kissed Ruby's forehead. "I must go." Emma seriously doubted her pressing need to be anywhere, but she'd just come as close to telling Ruby that she loved as Regina could get. Even she knew the backlash that followed the admission, from the town as well as her mother. Emma felt that wrath already.

"Miss Swan, please remain with Horace at all times," she ordered over her shoulder and then disappeared in a puff of violet as though she'd not just dropped that bombshell on them. Not only had she not been pissed that Ruby told Belle and Emma, she actively supported the decision of "coming out" so to speak.

"Well, that was new," Ruby broke the tense silence with levity. Emma chuckled, Belle lovingly rolled her eyes.

"Hey Baby," Ruby whispered and cupped Belle's cheek, thumb moving in a tender caress. "Would you mind running down to the cafeteria and bringing me one of those pastry things you were eating earlier?"

"It's called a danish, Ruby Lucas," Belle reprimanded the waitress who should have known the name. Ruby grinned devilishly, and Belle rolled her eyes, finally catching the joke. "You have an odd obsession with my compulsion to correct you."

"It's hot when you go all sexy librarian on me," Ruby purred.

"Don't make me quiet you," Belle gave as good as she got. She'd done more research on libraries and librarian clichés than anything else since being released. Ruby was so fond of calling her a sexy librarian, how could she not?

Emma snorted, shushing her own voices desperately before they conjured an image of Ruby with a ball gag in her mouth and Belle in dominatrix leather. Ruby's thoughts seemed to follow her own if her flushed cheeks and averted gaze indicated anything. Belle, oblivious to the dirty thoughts of the other two, pressed a lingering kiss to the corner of Ruby's mouth.

"I'll take two of The Queen's guards," she promised before Ruby ever spoke. Ruby nodded weakly and resettled against the pillow. The poor thing looked exhausted, but even her wolf needed time to recover from the whatever that venom did to her system, especially popping or hardening her veins or whatever the effect had been.

Emma grinned at the princess as she flounced from the room and clicked down the hallway. Ruby tipped her head slightly as though she followed the sounds of her lover growing fainter and then took a deep breath before opening her eyes to fix a harsh glare upon The Savior's face. It paralyzed Emma instantly.

"What did you do?" She demanded. Even in a sickbed, the wolf exuded power and leadership. She commanded it, just like her big sis. Emma wanted to smile at the thought.

"What are you talking about?" Emma asked, remembering her deal with Cora carefully. No one could know.

"I'm talking about the reason I'm still alive, Emma," Ruby yelled. With Regina she needed to be strong and careful, and with Belle she needed to be sweet and resilient. But with Emma, the fear surfaced. Emma hadn't left her side, she'd seen it all, took care of Granny, soothed Regina, and saved her life. Emma saved her and would have saved everyone who loved her had she died. She held the title of Savior for a reason; it took a special person to be so selfless, so unconditional and unwavering.

Emma closed the door and finally moved to Ruby's side. She took the wolf's hand, hooking her thumb into Ruby's longer one in a show of unity, sisterhood. "Listen to me, Ruby," she started, making sure the wolf's red eyes observed hers with rapt attention. "I didn't do anything," she repeated.

"Cora made you promise to be silent as part of the deal," the wolf deduced. Emma squeezed her hand once. Ruby's eyes flicked to it. She licked her lips and pushed forward.

"She made you end it with Regina, didn't she? That's why you haven't been out of bed in two days," Ruby floundered for a reason, focusing on a rushed explanation of Emma's absence for the past two days. Cora always hurt Regina. It was her addiction, and right now, nothing could have damaged her more than the loss of love from the one woman who could withstand her turbulence. Emma purposefully squeezed her hand again.

"I didn't make any deals, Ruby," she stated firmly. "I'm not sure what you heard at the hospital that night, but you were pretty delirious before you passed out." Emma lied with her words but not with her eyes and not with the subtle pressure of her hand after each question.

"I didn't," Ruby said quietly, interrogation forgotten in the heady remembrance of her imminent death. Emma's brow furrowed as she tried to decipher exactly what Ruby meant.

Ruby continued in a dull, monotone before Emma asked, "I couldn't move or speak or even open my eyes, but I heard and felt everything. I…" Her eyes slipped shut, filling with tears. The venom caused the worst pain she'd ever experienced, physically as well as mentally. Being unable to move and speak tortured her as much as the physical pain of her body slowly dying.

"I've seen this before when I was a child. A chimera terrorized our village. Took them nearly a month to kill it. The red eyes, the weird ass vein thing," she glanced down her body, the dark streaks still faintly visible beneath her now pale skin. At least that had returned to normal.

"I'd always heard that chimera ate their prey alive," she murmured, turning her barely controlled gaze towards the partially opened blinds on the window.

"Ruby," Emma whispered. She expected repercussions, but completely underestimated how traumatized Ruby was going to be. That's what made her special. Ruby felt scared out of her mind most of the time, but she stood up and fought to the bitter end anyway.

"I haven't told anyone, and no one has said anything. Even Whale seems baffled by my sudden recovery and the type of poison. I wanted to talk to you first. Guess they'll never know, except Granny," Ruby promised, her voice thick with unshed tears.

"Hey," Emma caught her attention gently and squeezed her hand for the sake of showing her fierce support. How had she ever wished Ruby dead for her own selfish purposes? "Get it out before Belle gets back," Emma allowed the moment of weakness without judgment or condescension. She could be this for Ruby, her secret support and pillar of strength. Ruby would have done the same for her, no matter what timeline she fell into.

"Granny and I didn't even know there was a cure to chimera venom," she confided in a raspy voice.

"Ruby," Emma said firmly and wrapped a hand around the side of her neck, holding her gaze. "Get it out before Belle gets back. I'm here."

Ruby lost it, and Emma stood to take the trembling wolf in her arms. She slipped an arm beneath her neck, the other under her shoulder, holding her slightly off the bed, accepting all of her tears into the shoulder of her shirt. A few of her own tumbled onto her cheeks, and she turned her face into Ruby's hair.

"You have to save her now, Ruby," she whispered. "She's not an idiot. She'll figure out that I'm not touching her and rejecting her for no good reason. I can't tell her or she'll get hurt worse," Emma barely breathed her secrets into the wolf's ear, but she knew the supernatural hearing picked up every syllable.

"I can't save her, Ruby."

"Just keep me and Belle alive, Emma," Ruby returned between her hiccups and wet gasps. Her hands tightened in Emma's shirt, holding The Savior just as much as The Savior held her.

"Just keep us alive, and I'll take care of her."


	47. Ruins

Thank you for the reviews and follows, My Dears! Enjoy!

Songs: Talk to Me by Lauren Aquilina, Waiting for Superman by Daughtry

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><p>"You okay, Kid?" Emma asked when an explosion from the movie they pretended to watch startled her from her the continuous loop of events in her mind.<p>

Mason shrugged and crossed his arms over his chest, slumping further into the plushy sofa. "I guess," he mumbled and pretended to watch the movie some more.

"Liar," Emma poked and bumped his arm with her elbow. He jerked from the touch, pressing himself further into the couch, making his presence as small as possible. Emma's heart clenched and jerked with a pang of grief and guilt.

"Do you want to talk about what happened in the diner last week?" It'd been a week exactly, five days since Emma's lie of cramps. She edged no closer to a plan. Cora had fallen dormant again, but Regina grew more frustrated and persistent each day.

"Not really. I know Regina is important here. I guess, I just didn't expect someone to come at her like that, y'know?" He cracked his tightly shut walls, letting her glimpse the scared little boy inside.

"She's very important, and that won't be the last time it happens," Emma came straight out with it. He was a child, but he wasn't stupid. She knew from experience how important it was to include him in this discussion, to divulge the whole truth… well, maybe not the fairytale and magic bits.

"Hey," she bumped his arm again, "don't worry about Regina. She can take care of herself. Her guards are just a formality," she assured him. It took someone stupid or crazed to test Regina's magical abilities. Not even The Dark One dared challenge her strength, not when her punishments were far worse than death at times.

"I know she's tough, like you, and Ruby," he muttered as if Emma insulted him by telling him about Regina's strength and resilience. He noticed everything, just like her. She should have known better.

"I know you know that, Kid, but I'm your mom and it's my job to say stupid shit like that. It's my job to take care of you and make sure you're okay, so I'm probably going to say a lot of stupid stuff before it's all said and done," Emma floundered, searching desperately for what exactly bothered her son.

"Yeah," he huffed, but it wasn't acceptance of her noble, cliché speech. It sounded angry, guarded. Something deeper stirred beneath those angst brown eyes.

"Hen…" Emma clapped a hand over her mouth, and the boy wrinkled his nose at her weirdness. If she'd been alone, Emma felt certain she'd have broken down and cried herself to sleep. Her body ached and tingled for a good night's sleep, but between the knowledge of Cora only hundreds of feet away and Regina's confusion, sleep rarely touched her during the past week.

"Mason," she said emphatically, forcing her anguish to the back of her mind. "What's going on? Talk to me," Emma urged gently. Regina always knew how to comfort Henry, even when he hated her.

"Are you and Regina breaking up?" He blurted unexpectedly, and Emma physically recoiled from the metaphorical slap in the face.

"That's why you've been so upset?" She blurted the first question that popped into her mind. Of course, he focused on them instead of the bizarre events that surround him on a daily basis. He hadn't cared that her guards carried swords or dressed like extras in an episode of Xena. He saw them struggling and feared being sent away again.

"Listen to me, Mason," Emma forced his attention to her with the serious tone of her voice. Pulling a knee onto the sofa, she turned to face him completely. "What happens between me and Regina has nothing to do with you, okay? We both love you, and you're not going anywhere, even if it doesn't work out for us, okay?" A muscle in her neck jerked at the truthfulness behind the words.

Regina loved him. She saw it everyday, the softness in her eyes and little grins and the doting treatment of him. He'd become her son in a matter of weeks, and Regina never stopped loving someone once she'd begun. Her devotion to Daniel and Ruby proved that.

"I don't want you to break up. You guys are good together," he confided and hid a sniffle by wiping his nose with the back of his hand at the same time. Emma pulled the boy into her arms, tears of her own threatening to kiss her cheeks for the thousandth time that week.

"I think that, too, Kid," Emma agreed and squeezed him tightly about the shoulders. When his arms circled her waist, she allowed exactly one tiny droplet to fall from each eye.

"I love her. We're just working some stuff out, okay?" She helped him understand even if she wasn't capable. He nodded against her shoulder and squeezed her tighter.

"Thanks, Mom," came the tiny, relived voice of her son. It sounded different than Henry's, squeaky and deeper, evidence of his thrust into puberty.

"Always, Kid," Emma vowed and pulled back, wiping her tears with a smile on her face. "Come on, let's shoot things," she changed the subject and jerked her head towards the Xbox.

His smile grew quickly, and he jumped up to pick out a game while Emma changed the channel on the television. The pain and grief slipped away as they bounced around the living room, too excited or jumpy from the sudden zombie attacks to sit still on the sofa.

And that's how Regina found them when she arrived home from another day of jumbled budget reports and bitching citizens and a silent mother. The harder she looked, the more she believed the missing money slipped into the pocket of someone from her Council, and the thought unsettled her to the point of itching to take their hearts individually and questioning them.

"Ah! Stop eating my face, you undead bastard!" Emma yelled, jerking her remote around like it might have helped her free the creature's hold.

Regina recoiled from the harsh language, eyebrows shooting for the roof, eyelids blinking rapidly. Yet, a smile spread on her cheeks at the mother-son duo. Despite being separated by years and completely different timelines, they behaved so similarly that it would be impossible to deny the boy's lineage.

She took a moment longer to appreciate Emma's strong legs, flexing and jumping in those indigo jeans that left nothing to the imagination, not that Regina needed much of one to conjure the feeling of them beneath her, flexing around her shoulders, between her own. She pulled a slow deep breath into her lungs, trying to ignore the sudden heat between her thighs, the tightening of muscles deep within her stomach. She wanted Emma Swan, and if she waited much longer, she might have begged the woman to bring her to release.

"Honestly, Miss Swan," she berated, smirking when Emma jumped in surprise and turned from the television. "I've striven to instill some sort of elegance to the boy's speech. Must you undermine the effort with your vulgarity?"

"Welcome home, your highness," Emma greeted, allowing levity to lace her voice to hide the proper greeting from her son.

"Hi Regina," Mason said much more sedately, proving his ability to please both women. "How was work?" He asked, feeling much more secure after his brief conversation with biological mother earlier.

Regina lowered her tired body to the sofa, tucking into a corner and crossing her legs. "I've viewed more budget reports in the past few weeks than the past 30 years combined," she stated, her tone just as awful as the task sounded, and propped her arm on the back of the sofa to rest her temple against her fist.

Emma's eyes grazed the teasing hint of olive-toned thigh revealed beneath the knee-length skirt. Predatory energy wafted from the woman in waves, intoxicating her even more than the sight of the beautiful body it rolled from. Regina wanted her, needed her if she'd refrained from relieving herself with a random guard. Surely, not all of them declined her advances. That redhead seemed enthusiastic enough to be buried inside her queen. Emma's heart jolted at the memory of it, they'd both had a dandy time that night. No, that guard followed the order willingly, not because Regina held her heart.

"That sounds tedious," Emma said hoarsely, trying desperately to ignore the inevitable. The excuse of spending time with her son would only fly for so long before she returned to studying laws and rules of The Queen.

"Indeed," Regina agreed. "Have you done anything productive?" She asked with an amused smirk. Her pet behaved so much like a child trapped in a grown adult's body.

"Nope," Mason chirped happily.

"Have you washed for dinner?" She turned her attention to the boy. He shook his head and returned the controller to the stand, sensing Regina's unasked question to give her and Emma a minute alone.

"On it. I'll meet you in there," he decided and practically bolted from the room. Emma watched him go, longing to follow him to avoid the pending conversation.

"Emma," Regina called softly, and Emma found herself floating towards The Queen before her mind ever registered the action. Regina's hazy eyes devoured her body as she moved, and Emma's heart clenched.

Once stood before The Queen, she fidgeted, not quite sure what Regina wanted. Regina leaned forward and scooted to the edge of the sofa, skirt riding up with the motion. "Will you kneel before your queen?" Regina requested. It wasn't a command, but Emma obeyed as if it were.

"How are you feeling today?" She asked, brushing blonde hair from her neck and shoulder, exposing her collarbone. Fingertips brushed the jutting bone beneath milky white flesh, and Emma shivered under the deliberate attention.

"It was good to spend the day with him," Emma answered honestly, hoping a conversation pertaining to her son thwarted any sexual advances. She pressed her hands firmly into her thighs, minding her deal of not reciprocating or initiating physical contact.

"His spirit seems much improved," Regina murmured, floundering for conversation when she so acutely felt a rift between them that had never before been present. During the week Emma refused to speak beyond monosyllabic replies to her questions or commands, Regina understood the reasons behind the silence, the tension. This made no sense.

"He just needed some attention, that's all," Emma agreed with a shrug. "How's Ruby?" She followed the statement with a question, keeping her queen's mind occupied.

Regina stopped to visit with her sister for a few minutes after leaving Throne Hall, and Emma found she actually missed watching them interact. Ruby, despite being weak and barely able to walk from the living room to the kitchen to make a cup of tea, granted such attentive care to her big sister. Though she'd promised to take care of her emotionally, Emma knew the affection ran far deeper than the promise she'd made. Ruby genuinely wanted her sister, loved her, looked up to her.

"She seems much stronger today. She ventured to the diner and sat on a stool this evening. I shared a cup of coffee with her before departing," Regina explained with a faint smile on her cheeks. The hand steadily moving over her chest and shoulder stilled, and Emma nearly cried out in relief from both the news and the cease of affection.

"Ruby is going nuts being cooped up like that," Emma cemented the thread of conversation.

Regina hummed. "She's never endured solitude well." The guilt and sadness of the comment caught Emma off guard, and her head fell to the side as she studied the different emotions flickering in Regina's face. The Queen fought desperately for control of them but failed, bowing her head under the weight.

"Regina?" Emma whispered and touched her cheek. Deal be damned. No matter how long it took to defeat Cora, she still loved Regina and refused to sit idly by while the woman suffered and sought comfort. She'd been ordered to offer it if The Queen was upset, she reasoned. It wasn't against the rules.

"Her connection to me forced isolation upon her entire existence," Regina explained regretfully. "I watched over her often from the distance of my looking glass. Granny kept one in her room at the cottage specifically for the purpose." Regina released a shuddering breath, and Emma set an unobtrusive hand on her thigh, encouraging her to share more without judgment.

"That's why you gave her the diner when you cast the curse? She sees more people than anyone else in town," Emma reasoned. Her voice caught in her throat. It might have been the sweetest thing Regina had done yet. Ruby was the reason they'd not lost her completely. The tiny tendril of love she carried for her baby sister all these years saved her soul from complete destruction. She'd never completely lost the ability to love and care, which gave them the opportunity to expand that into the beautifully blossoming woman that sat before her.

"I hadn't a clue how exactly her cursed life would unfold, but yes," Regina admitted quietly, almost reverently. They'd been wrong. All of them had been so very, very wrong about Regina in both timelines. In the other timeline, Ruby's loyalty to Snow White prevented them from reconciling now that the curse had lifted.

Was Ruby's marriage to Peter the thing that changed everything? Emma recoiled with the thought. Could one person truly have made that much difference in an entire war? Yes, she was a wolf and charismatic and scarily focused when she wants something, but she was still only one person.

"Regina, they can't know yet. The way things are right now, people would flip shit if they knew about Ruby," Emma explained. She saw the need dancing in her lover's eyes, the desire to throw caution to the wind and claim Ruby as her own, as she had claimed her.

"I'm aware, Miss Swan," Regina snapped, stiffening from hearing the words aloud. Why couldn't the damn universe cut this woman a break? She just wanted her sister and a partner and the love of her mother and a child, things most took for granted.

Regina's phone vibrating in her blazer pocket blocked any words that might have been trying to come out of Emma's mouth. Releasing a defeated sigh, Regina reached for the device with labored movements as though the weight of their conversation physically pressed upon her. Her face softened and brightened simultaneously at the first glimpse of the screen, and Emma knew immediately that Ruby called.

"Miss Lucas?" Regina answered formally, hiding from the more tender feelings swimming in her chest.

"Regina!" Belle's terrified voice screamed into the phone. "Ruby needs you."

The Queen found her feet instantly, almost unaware of Emma still kneeling between her knees. Emma scrambled to maintain her balance and sprang to her feet with a couple stumbling steps.

"What is it, Miss French?" Regina demanded. The lines of her face hardened dramatically as Belle calmed too much for Emma to catch the rest of the conversation.

Shit. Shit. Shit. Green eyes moved frantically, searching for an answer as her queen grew visibly more angry with each second. Without speaking again, Regina grabbed her hand and teleported before she ended the call. Instead of materializing in the diner as she'd expected, they arrived in the middle of the square directly in front of Throne Hall.

A huge, rowdy crowd gathered, and Emma heard Robin Hood's voice riling them further from the front. In a show of blatant disregard and status, Regina sent a magic pulse into the crowd that sent people flying and stumbling, parting a direct path to the event that had drawn such a crowd. Emma gasped, and Regina's grip on her hand tightened painfully.

Ruby sat on her knees, obviously too weak to stand and held upright by two of Robin's men. Her arms were spread wide and gripped tightly in the bruising clutches of the burly men, and the image struck Emma has one often thrown into movies to represent a martyr on a crucifix. It suited Ruby in a way that she never wanted to see again. The wolf raised her previously bowed head, revealing a trickle of blood from her mouth and a bruise forming on her eye. The roughness had been unnecessary in her currently weakened state, and Emma's own anger grew.

"You do realize that assaulting a member of the royal family is an offense punishable by death," Regina tossed out casually a moment before releasing her hand and sauntering down the aisle she'd created. Somehow Robin found out and looked as though he intended to execute The Evil Queen's dirty little secret.

Belle appeared at Emma's side and rushed forward at the sight of her abused lover. The Savior physically restrained her with two strong arms around both of hers. "Wait," Emma whispered in her ear when Belle struggled against her. The bomb hadn't yet been disarmed, and if Belle bolted in, she stood a chance of being injured, too, simply for her involvement with Ruby or by a knee-jerk reaction from Regina because of the sudden movement coming at her. Emma fought the same urge, to run to her aid, to pick the strong wolf up and help her stand proud as she'd always done.

"Regina," Ruby whispered thru clenched teeth as though the simply act of saying her name hurt as much as the chimera venom. Her big brown eyes still shown brightly with determination, but she sounded surprised that Regina rode in on her dark horse to rescue her. All the progress they'd accomplished stood on the brink of collapse by acknowledging the truth of the accusations. She'd not been abandoned by her sister.

A tense moment of silence stretched as Regina decided exactly how to handle the situation. She studied the piece of paper in Robin's hand, the contact that sent Peter to her army, and then settled her gaze on Robin's face. She held out a steady hand, and Robin obediently surrendered the contract, understanding the murderous glint in The Queen's eyes. People were going to die if things went slightly off track of what she wanted. It hadn't mattered that he gave up so easily because the damage to Ruby had been done. She'd been taken completely out of power. No one else needed to be injured.

Without preamble, her hand swept upwards, and the men holding Ruby on her knees flew backwards and Robin disappeared, probably to the mines to join Gaston. The wolf fell forward into Regina's hips and thighs, smearing a crimson stain onto her grey skirt. The Queen set a gentle hand on the back of her head. It almost hovered over her hair, afraid to cause more pain to the suffering woman. It was gentle and unexpected and revealing, and even the most ignorant of people deciphered the gesture easily.

"Emma, Miss French," she called quietly over her shoulder instead of busting loose a magic massacre as everyone, even Emma, expected. What the hell had that piece of paper triggered in Regina's mind?

She and Belle moved forward as one unit and took one of Ruby's quivering arms over their shoulders, hoisting the wolf to her feet. Belle wrapped her arms around Ruby's waist, too short to be effective with Emma and Ruby's height.

"Don't. Stay away from me," Ruby tried to shoo them away lest they be targeted, too. Regina quieted her with a soft hand on her cheek. The wolf shared an emotional stare with her sister, tears blurring her vision only to be blinked away, perpetuating the cycle for several breaths.

"Regina, don't hurt them, please," Ruby begged. "When Robin accused me of being your sister, I didn't deny it because you're right. It's time to stop hiding. They're confused because they think I betrayed them all these years. They don't understand," she finished quietly. Regina reacted visibly to the phrase, anger slipping from her features to reveal the broken woman beneath who loved her sister.

Without turning around to address the crowd properly, Regina murmured, "I suggest you all leave now because I shall kill any remaining when my sister has recovered enough to return home."


	48. Insurgent

I'd like to dedicate this chapter to one of my former students. Dude, if someone told me four years and one day ago that the most brilliant tech student I'd ever have the opportunity to teach and mentor was going to end it all, I'd have never believed them. Never thought you'd be the one to teach me to absorb and accept and see other people instead my own ambitions. I'm still learning, punk, but I'll get there one day. So, keep it cool in that big light booth in your nirvana, and we'll make some awesome theatre again someday. For any teachers reading this, be sure to take the time and appreciate your students. Sometimes, the ones who shine the brightest are the ones who most need to be seen.

…Also, I hate Christmas… December is a horrible month.

That said, Let's focus on this awesome chapter I'm giving you, and have a dandy good time because it's pretty awesome if I do say so myself.

Songs: Fools by Lauren Aquilina, Only You by Delilah

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><p>Emma growled and switched positions again. The television murmured at her, and she nearly gave up on sleep and watched it all night. Deciding to give it one more try, she flopped onto her back and turned off the t.v. emphatically, almost harrumphing at it as if to say "you can't make me." She tucked both arms beneath her pillow and blinked at the ceiling for a minute before forcing them to close without reopening.<p>

A bloodcurdling shriek jerked them open a moment later. Obviously, Regina struggled with sleep as well that night, and Emma jumped out of bed and crossed the room without hesitation. The sight that awaited her paralyzed her body momentarily with a hefty surge of adrenaline. Sweat-dampened hair stuck to The Queen's forehead, and her body twisted and writhed, a demonic possession of her subconscious.

"Mother, tell him to stop!" Regina screamed, and Emma jolted back to life. She prayed that Regina only experienced a nightmare and not a memory. Cora wouldn't have, would she? Emma rolled her eyes, unsure why she still asked herself these questions. Of course the evil bitch watched and laughed and egged the bastard on. If Hook actually managed to find her heart, she'd have thought long and hard about giving it back or crushing it on the spot.

"Regina!" Emma whispered harshly and shook both shoulders with a firm grip in case Regina panicked when she awoke. Her eyes flew open, and she bolted upright. Rather than grab at Emma's throat as she had the first time, she stumbled from the bed and into the bathroom.

Emma winced as the sounds of her tossing her dinner into the toilet filled the room. The Savior in her battled with the woman in her, almost winning with the urge to follow Regina to the bathroom. It probably would have done more damage than good, witnessing the already embarrassed queen in such an undignified act. After a few minutes, the toilet flushed, water ran and the unmistakable sound of Regina brushing her teeth followed the physical manifestation of her emotional upheaval. Emma sat on the edge of the bed and waited patiently.

"You okay?" She asked when the _squish-swish _of the plushy carpet announced her return.

Rather than answer properly, Regina straddled her hips and collapsed into her for an emotional hug. A soft, warm hand stroked golden hair and air puffed on her neck for a good five minutes before Regina ever spoke. "Emma, I need you," she whispered into her ear and then sat up slowly to make eye contact with The Savior. "Please."

"Regina," Emma sighed and pressed her forehead to her queen's, tightening her hold around her hips. Her heart pulled and constricted in her chest, like prey to an unfeeling serpent. "I can't. I'm sorry."

"Why not?" Regina snapped, jerking stiff on her lap.

"Regina, please, just… I just can't, okay," Emma babbled, grappling with the urge to push Regina physically away from her to spare some of the pain. This was it, the moment she'd dreaded. Of course, it unfolded the night Regina obviously needed sexual comfort from another nightmare.

"Emma, please," Regina tried again. Emma shook her head against the queen's lightly, biting her lip to keep the confession of her deal with Cora inside.

"Emma, what have I done? The situation with Azalia, I understood because I knew exactly what you felt. I intended to cause that pain," Regina searched for understanding where there was none, and Emma's heart broke all over again.

"I'm sorry," Emma gasped and dropped her mouth to Regina's shoulder to muffle the ugly sobs that bubbled from her throat. "You haven't done anything, Regina," she assured the other woman, trying to regain some semblance of control.

"Does this pertain to your visit to Mother to obtain the cure for Ruby?" A boulder sank in her stomach when Emma sat back, suddenly sobered with wide, frantic eyes.

"Oh she is good," Emma muttered incredulously.

"Excuse me?" Regina's confusion and anger at the comment only solidified a burning rage in Emma's chest.

"Nothing," The Savior deadpanned, shutting everything down, and lifted Regina from her lap. Regina watched helplessly from the bed, tears of her own swelling at the desperate clawing and scratching at her chest from her heart. She needed Emma.

"Emma, do not leave this room. That is an order," Regina switched tactics and stood from the bed, stomping her foot on the floor in a queenly hissy fit that did nothing but see The Savior's back disappear into her room.

"Emma, I don't feel anything with anyone else," Regina softened, praying her voice actually carried to the other woman this time. She held her breath, waiting for the backlash, the rejection and lash upon her broken heart.

It released all at once when Emma reappeared, charging for her as though she intended to attack. Instead, steady hands pressed both sides of her face, tipping it upward slightly to meet the passionate kiss Emma dropped onto her mouth. The Savior pulled back and searched those blackened eyes in the pale moonlight filtering into the window.

"Cora refused to give me the serum unless I agreed to stop having sex with you," Emma confessed. Rage flickered on The Queen's face and in her eyes, but not at her. "I did it to save Ruby because losing her would have meant losing you, too. I'd rather just be your pet and your friend if the only other option is losing you forever. I didn't think you'd believe me," she finished breathily.

"A week ago, I wouldn't have," Regina confessed. Emma smiled, releasing a puff of air that moved her entire chest at the same time.

"I love you."

"I know."

They came together again. Lips and teeth and tongues all moved in a desperately voluptuous motion. Regina's shirt hit the floor, and their bodies undulated, bring their mouths together once more. There was a slowness in the fulfillment of their need of the other. Neither seemed willing to fall first to the mattress, afraid to lose that contact with the body moving against her own.

Emma turned Regina around slowly and wrapped an arm around her waist, kissing a hot trail from her shoulder to neck. "Is this okay?" She asked, minding Regina's mental limitations. The Queen nodded and wrapped a hand around the back of her neck to hold her.

Emma covered Regina's breasts with both hands and groaned into The Queen's ear shamelessly. "I really do love your tits. They're fucking perfect," Emma complimented her, pinching and rolling her nipples.

Regina responded by turning in her arms and dropping to her knees, taking her boy shorts down with her. "I might say the same about your delicious cunny, dear."

Emma's snicker at the antiquated term promptly extended into a moan when the flat of Regina's tongue pressed into her clit. It slid up and down, spreading heat and tingles into her belly. Emma's hips jerked forward, and she placed her hands on Regina's head lightly, not trapping or directing her in anyway. Her legs quaked violently, and Emma caught her weight on Regina's shoulder, steadying balance.

"I can't stand up for this," she stuttered around pants. Regina smirked and shoved her hips backwards aggressively, catching her off guard and sending her tumbling onto the bed again.

"You have got to stop that. I'm going to have a heart attack," Emma berated her lover, glaring as Regina mounted her, losing her sleep pants in the two seconds it took, and leaned in for a kiss.

Tongue proceeded teeth and lips, and Emma moaned at the taste of herself inside Regina's mouth. Hips jerked upwards, seeking friction, attention, anything. Regina started smirking before she ever broke the kiss. That one look, that one perfect moment. Regina let go of her reservations, allowed herself to experience joy with sex for one beautiful moment. Emma came undone, flipping Regina onto her back and plunging two fingers into her without hesitation.

"Emma," Regina whispered, and Emma paused without raising her head from it's spot on Regina's neck. Crap. Crap. Crap. She'd lost herself in the moment and scared the shit out of Regina. She waited, breath hitching and jerking.

"Don't stop, Darling," Regina whispered and craned her neck to the side to find Emma's eyes. Relief gushed into her chest, burning hotly and flushing her neck and cheeks.

The energy changed for the millionth time that night, and they came together again for another slow, sensual dance of lips and tongues. Slipping and sliding, the liquid heat of their mouths combined with that wrapped around Emma's fingers twitched and quivered at the slower, smoother pace. Regina held at her back, seeking an anchor in the pending wash of ecstasy.

"Tell me how you feel," Emma encouraged, as much for her benefit as Regina's. Fingers stroked her at a steady rhythm, working her up slowly.

"Good," Regina stuttered, almost unable to comply with the request.

The Savior crooked her fingers, and Regina loosed a little cry, pushing her hips up to meet her lover's fingers. "More, Emma. I want more."

Emma nearly stopped, shocked by the words. Want. Regina directing her in this moment went far beyond bedroom demands. It was different. It spoke of trust, not control, and perhaps Regina's life as a whole. She added a third finger on the next thrust, not quite banging into her painfully, giving her time to adjust slowly. Regina answered with a moan.

"That's it, Baby, let me hear you. Let go for me," Emma encouraged again.

"Emma," Regina gasped, following with a high pitched sound that shot straight to Emma's core. Emma dropped her elbow and switched to an upward angle. Regina cried out, back arching from the bed, tantalizing the blonde with a jiggle of her breasts.

"I like that, Emma," Regina instructed, and Emma held the angle despite the instant burn of her forearm and shoulder. This moment belonged to Regina.

Emma's mouth moved over her body unable to stay far from those supple mounds of flesh. She pulled too hard with her lips and teeth, knowing exactly what she left behind. Regina was hers, and now she bore her mark. She glanced up Regina's body to find a hazy glaze in The Queen's eyes, something deeper that she'd not seen before. Crap, was that her homicidal glare that shot out Archimedes' death ray?

"Should I not have done that?" She asked nervously.

Regina gasped, chest heaving with the effort of thinking and breathing and staying awake. She wrapped a hand around the back of Emma's neck and lowered her mouth to the same exact spot on her breast. "Don't stop," she moaned, rolling her hips desperately.

The Savior latched onto it once more, laving a hot, wet tongue onto the bruise while pulling at the skin to make it deeper. The heady reality of what she'd allowed Emma to do and the steady punching into a place inside of her that killed every single thought instantly had Regina writhing and moaning unabashedly. If anyone remained awake at this hour, they all knew exactly what happened in their queen's bedroom, but Emma dared not quiet her, not even with a kiss. Regina reached a turning point, and she needed love and support and absolutely no judgment of her abandon.

Regina came faster than they both expected. She arced from the bed, a trembling outstretched towards her stomach but unable to complete the motion. Emma understood enough to hold still while Regina clenched and convulsed around her fingers. The emotions intensified everything, and Emma's eyes filled with tears alongside her lover's as she dropped her forehead back to Regina's neck.

"I want to stay here with you," she whispered against her throat.

"Of course, Emma. You may sleep in my bed tonight," Regina offered without hesitation. Emma shook her head and raised it to reveal a face shimmering with tears in the dim light of the moon.

"No, I want to stay here with you, in this timeline," she clarified.

Regina simply stared at her, unbelieving, shocked, something not quite readable because of the number of emotions twisting and crashing in her eyes. Within a moment, Emma was on her back and Regina's tongue plunged into her velvet walls. Wet heat followed the flicks and swipes of the skilled muscle. Emma's stomach clenched, hips rolling into Regina's face, reaching climax almost instantly.

"Fuck, Baby, you're good at that," Emma praised breathlessly. She thought it to be over, prepared to settle into sleep beside her lover, but after a moment of recovery, Regina's tongue stroked and massaged around her entrance, cleaning every bit of moisture Emma offered up.

A lazy, languid rhythm followed. Regina hummed and moaned, and at one point Emma thought she felt The Queen reach between her own legs, but the starbursts behind her eyes prevented her from looking. She thought perhaps Regina had some sort of mental collapse. Over and over again, she brought Emma higher to the ledge and pushed her off with only the use of her tongue, and Emma praised her over and over each time, with her name, her title, terms of endearment. All of them for Regina.

"Regina," she gasped, having lost count of how many times she'd climaxed. "Stop. I can't, Baby," she managed between heaving gasps. "I'm going to pass out," she added and received a self-satisfied smirk in return.

That perfect, pink tongue found the endurance to trace Regina's lips, cleaning her face. Emma groaned and tossed an arm over her face, shuddering with another wave of ecstasy. Regina smirked and slid up her cooling body and watched the different contortions of Emma's face as her body continued to ripple and spasm with pleasure.

Finally, she opened her eyes and grinned sleepily up at her lover. "Hi," she said stupidly. Regina rolled her eyes.

When Emma's hands reached for her breasts with clear intentions, Regina thwarted their attempts easily. "I'm alright, dear," she whispered and dropped kisses along Emma's chest. Emma settled, basking in the gentle ministrations. She'd marked Regina and then was eaten into oblivion… not exactly how she'd envisioned her night ending.

"What was that for?" She asked lazily, scratching sporadically at Regina's scalp.

"You've not slept for nearly a week, and I thought perhaps you'd like my help," Regina explained cheekily. Emma giggled, knowing exactly what Regina had done. Asserted her dominance, marked her in a way so very differently than the tiny hickey on her breast, this was a mental and emotional insignia of ownership, though Emma just felt worshipped and loved and sated.

Regina settled against the pillows on her side, and Emma scooted towards her, only half turning on her side to press her shoulder into Regina's front. Her head lulled naturally into her chest, nestled next to her most favorite thing, apparently.

"Regina?" She mumbled.

"Yes, dear?" Regina dropped quietly into her ear.

"Why can't I taste you?" Emma rasped and scratched her nose, but her eyes never opened or shifted beneath the lids. "I want to make you feel that way, every time. You can tie me up or sit on my face or whatever you need to do to be okay with it. I just want to make you feel good," The Savior babbled, sleepy and emotional.

Regina smiled despite the dark thoughts the question elicited and flattened her lips against Emma's forehead. "I'll tell you in the morning," she promised and wrapped an arm around Emma's waist, brushing her thumb lovingly over her ribs.

Emma settled, taking the answer for what it was, too sleepy to carry on an argument. "R'gina?"

A smile tugged at her lips again, and she rolled her eyes to the side, glancing down at her adorable lover. "Yes, Emma?" She played along patiently, more amused than irritated. She wasn't sleepy anyway, and The Savior's childish antics made her smile, a expression missing from far too many years of her life.

"Can I see my parents?" She asked, probably not even aware of the request if her breathy voice and relaxed face indicated her state of consciousness.

She swallowed thickly and held her lips to Emma's head, cupping the side and back of her neck tenderly. "I'll tell you in the morning," she repeated around the burn of tears. The tightness in her chest and the sickening churn of her stomach told her that she felt guilt, and the combination of warmth and coldness swirling inside of her overwhelmed her fledgling ability to handle deeply planted emotions.

"Luffoo," Emma murmured, and Regina assumed she meant to tell her that she loved her once more.

Shaking her head, she pulled the blankets up to Emma's hips and held perfectly still until Emma's breaths evened out. She'd never held anyone until they'd fallen asleep before. Emma held her, but this position terrified her much more, to know how vulnerable she'd just made the woman in her arms and to then have the trust placed in her arms to keep her safe while she slumbers weighed heavily on her chest. She may have learned to trust Emma, but Emma also learned to trust that she controlled herself enough not to lash out violently or harm her during her sleep as she had when Graham pulled her out of bed in the middle of the night her first week here.

She forced slow, deep breaths into her lungs, calming and remembering. She had more important subjects to ponder at the moment than her mistakes regarding Emma Swan, not when she found an opportunity to prevent one.

Regina propped her elbow on the bed, cradling her head, and stared down at her lover. Emma's pale skin glowed in the silver light of the moon, and the urge to trail feathery fingertips between the valley between her breasts emerged victorious in the war against not wishing to wake her sleeping companion. Her eyes fell to her own breasts, slightly washed in the dim light, whiter than her natural hue.

Smiling faintly, she traced the tiny purple mark on the inside of her right breast with a steady fingertip. Many emblems of ownership had been inflicted upon her flesh, now decades faded. Every one hurt her, scarred her, mentally and physically - to be possessed, controlled scared her more than anything. None of her lovers ever marred her skin, not beyond the redness of fingerprints and a swell of her lips. Never before had a passion mark felt good, wanted.

She'd felt no pain during the placing of the dark mark. Nothing Emma did ever meant to hurt her, this being no different. It bruised deeply, enough to take several days to fade completely, but it was small in circumference. Subtle, much like the love of the woman who had left it, and The Queen found herself surprised that she wanted it there. Emma marked her, claimed her. Loved her.

Regina brushed a few strands of tangled blonde hair from Emma's forehead and lowered her lips to the clear skin beneath. "Thank you," she breathed, eyes searching Emma's features for any sign of consciousness, any indication she'd been discovered in this moment of weakness.

Emma slumbered peacefully, and Regina felt certain for the first time in her life. She slipped from the bed silently. Dressing in her old riding gear from The Enchanted Forest with a snap of her fingers, The Queen stole from the room and crossed the balcony. The soles of her boots barely tapped, so calm and slow were her steps.

The lock of Cora's room tumbled easily with a tiny wiggle of her fingers. She closed it silently, eyes glued to the still and silent form of the woman who had lied and manipulated her for the last time. With a flick of her wrist, the curtains spread and spilled silver light onto her mother's face. It glanced on her skin harshly, nothing like the luminous teasing of Emma's pale flesh.

She mounted Cora, covering her mouth with one hand, the other around her throat. Black leather shimmered in the moonlight, a sleek panther pouncing unsuspecting prey. Cora jerked awake, physically resisting before the tingle of magic tickled the back of her daughter's neck. Regina grinned savagely.

"Give me a reason, Mother. Please," she practically begged the woman to challenge her with magic. She'd lied to and emotionally tortured her for two lifetimes and called it love. It wasn't love. Emma was love, and the rumbling threat of violence in the younger woman's tone quelled her prisoner's.

"I want answers," Regina explained when the threat of magic passed. She lowered the hand about her mother's mouth and supported her weight on the bed, not daring to take the other from the firm grip on her throat.

"What has that fool savior planted in your head this time?" Cora spat, more angry than scared of her daughter. Regina shook her bodily by her neck, raising her from the bed and slamming her into the mattress. A spark of fear ignited in Cora's dark eyes, and Regina smiled maliciously.

"I see things more clearly than ever before," she explained, leaning so close to the older woman's face that she might have kissed her with a simple pursing of her lips. The fingertips of her free hand grazed her chest threateningly. "Do not force me to take your heart, Mother."


	49. Redemption

Hello again, Lovelies! Thank you so much for the reviews and follows! We are nearing the end of this beast, so the next 10 chapters or so are going to fly.

Also, I have an original novel published over on fiction press under the same pen name. I'm submitting pieces of it to a creative writing MFA program in the spring, so I'd really love the feedback if I have completely enamored you and you feel so inclined. It would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you again for all the wonderful reviews and follows! You guys are great!

Songs: Catch my Breath by Kelly Clarkson

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><p>Emma's eyelids fluttered, and Regina's breath hitched, an unexplainable excitement growing in her chest at the thought of seeing those beautiful green eyes. She'd waited for hours for Emma to wake and bore the anticipation no longer despite the lack of light in the sky. She traced the side of her thumb over a scar on Emma's chest, one she undoubtedly made. A little kiss on Emma's jawbone elicited and tiny groan from the back of The Savior's throat, and Regina chuckled silently, deciding that watching Emma wake up was one of her new favorite activities.<p>

She pressed the same ghosting kisses across Emma's clavicle and chest. Finally, those bleary green eyes opened enough to see who teased her, winced at the sunlight, and then dropped shut again. "That's nice," Emma mumbled and held the back to Regina's neck lightly.

"Gimme that girl," Emma kind of sang and half croaked.

"Have you gone mad?" Regina sniped, raising her head to just study Emma's blissful grin.

"It's a song," Emma explained, finally opening her eyes. Regina hovered over her, breasts pulling downward slightly, face void of make up, hair slightly tussled from sleep and their pre-sleep activities. "A very appropriate song for this moment," she added.

Regina raised an eyebrow and then resumed the slow worship of Emma's chest with her lips. The Savior hummed contentedly, feeling her body respond immediately to Regina's touch. "I'm your pet, shouldn't I be doing this for you? I mean, I'm here to serve my queen, right?" She queried in a tone that told Regina she wasn't in any hurry to wake up and move.

"You misunderstand what it means to be my pet," Regina murmured absently, too enamored by Emma's slowly erecting nipple to speak properly. She lowered her mouth to it, taking as much of the supple mound as possible into the wet heat behind her teeth.

Emma whimpered above her, fingers tightening slightly at the base of her hair. "Regina," she whined. "I'm trying to talk to you."

The Queen released the flesh with a suctioned pop and lowered her body to the much firmer one beneath her, coming face to face with her lover. "As I've stated before, Emma, you answer to none but me. You are favored by me, revered, and I show that appreciation in whatever way I deign suitable. You spurned my offer of gifts, but you seem quite receptive to this." She grinned wickedly, and Emma released a long audible breath. This woman wanted to kill her with orgasms, it was confirmed.

A warm, solitary finger traced the scars on her chest again. "You have a beautiful body," she praised breathily, lips moving against her scars. Content, she hummed into the skin

"Regina, we made a mistake last night," Emma blurted. The Queen's head rose violently, death and destruction and terror in her beautiful caramel eyes. "Shit, that's not what I meant, Baby," she backpedaled immediately.

"What I mean is that Cora said she'd hurt you worse if I told you, if I told anyone. I was too weak, and now I have no idea what she's going to do to you. I'm sorry." Emma's face tightened like she fought tears, and Regina soothed the dented lines on her forehead with a gentle stroke of her thumb.

"Mother cannot hurt either of us anymore," Regina comforted her weary pet in that same matter-of-fact tone she used for most things. At Emma's confused expression, she nodded towards the antique box with intricate designs sitting on the bedside table. "I hold her heart, Emma, and she has been remanded to the isolation room for the moment until I can uncover how deeply her treachery rooted."

"Uhh," Emma sputtered unsure exactly how to follow or respond to the new information. "Are you okay?" She blurted. Regina was addicted to her mother, obsessed with obtaining her approval and love. Something like that took more than a few weeks to undo, and in most cases, it never felt completely resolved because a small part of a person always wanted those things even after they'd moved on and consciously admitted how toxic the quest became.

"I have feelings," Regina admitted, not quite sure what to call them yet. Her shoulders twitched and tightened, a physical manifestation of the things Emma couldn't see. She sighed deeply and raised her eyes to the compassionate green studying her.

"There remains much I have yet to understand about what has transpired during my life, so I have chosen to ignore what I do not understand within myself until I have uncovered the truth," Regina explained her position the best way she knew how, and Emma understood. She wanted verbal confirmation of all the horrible shit Cora inflicted upon her before attempting to decipher how those truths made her feel. It was very Regina.

"Wait. Hold up. Cora actually had her heart? I mean, in her fucking chest this whole time?" The Savior's brain tried in vain to wrap around the repulsive fact that this Cora represented undiluted evil. She felt nothing, literally, not even with her heart.

"Yes, I took it from her chest last night," Regina confirmed. "I had hoped your theory of its removal by her own hand to be correct, but that seems improbable as it sits by my bed at this moment," Regina reverted to elaborate queen-speak, protecting herself from the disappointment of ever saving her mother, feeling her mother's love. Emma's heart broke all over again for the damaged woman laying atop her, skin on skin. If they'd never abused her as they had, Regina would have become a very different person.

"You did this after I went to sleep last night?" Regina nodded and pressed a kiss between her breasts, unable to stop the attention to her pet's body, not when it was right there comfortably and willingly displayed before her.

"Have you slept at all?" Regina shook her head without disconnecting her lips and then nipped and licked on the insides of her breasts, distracting her.

Sleep refused her prayers because her mind focused so acutely on this body beneath her own. Emma had fallen asleep in her arms, and she stayed awake to watch her breathe, protecting the vulnerability the sacred act exposed in her pet. Absolute trust had never before been cradled in her hands, and the thought of sullying that with a nightmare of her own weaknesses frightened Regina into sleeplessness. She felt the warmth and newness of the emotions in her chest, but hadn't named them or figured out how to express them aside from bringing Emma physical pleasure.

"Cunnilingus is the only instance upon which my body has betrayed my mind," Regina blurted in the next breath, distracting the conversation from the uncomfortable reasons behind her lack of sleep, and Emma whiplashed, scrambling to follow her queen's thoughts when they were so clearly jumbled.

"Okay," Emma accepted the new information without judgment, remembering her sleepy questions from the night before. "Do you want to talk about it?" She nudged gently, knowing Regina pulled the plug on this moment of sharing at any moment.

Regina sighed deeply thru her nose, puffing air across Emma chest where her mouth held another kiss. "No, I do not wish to discuss such things, but your persistence has led me to a promise of explanation that I'd like to honor," Regina declared regally.

"I'm listening," Emma encouraged and relaxed her muscles into her warm, comfy spot on the mattress, and pushed loving fingers thru dark hair.

Regina stared at her chest and dove directly in, using a dissociated, monotone that hurt Emma's heart as much as the tale. "Leopold took me to his bed as a maiden on the night of our wedding. He tried to prepare me using such methods, but my body refused to cooperate. My fear and inexperienced prevented any sort of physical reaction, I suppose. Daniel had not yet been buried a month, and my grief prevented me from desiring The King."

Emma's brow furrowed and her stomach churned already. Basically, Regina used queen-speak to say she'd not wanted anything he'd done to her that night, and very likely every night after that. She swallowed roughly and remained silent as Regina gathered her thoughts.

"When he realized his efforts futile, he proceeded despite the pain it caused. The pain was… unimaginable to me at the time. I believed nothing to be so horrible as the physical sensation of another moving inside of me. He cursed at me for making the experience displeasing, for my body's failure."

Regina wiped at her face discreetly, and Emma brushed a thumb over her temple, supporting her silently. She'd come so far, and even if she never finished her recounting of the event, this moment solidified something between them, a mutual trust and sharing previously absent. Love and hatred battled for dominance in Emma's heart. She loved Regina more, and hated all of them to an exceedingly impossible level. The Savior should not have been capable of such loathing, she thought briefly before turning her full attention back to the woman atop her.

"He departed before finishing, and I believed the act to be finished. I understood so little of sex, then," Regina took a moment to laugh at herself. And, Emma almost smiled, remembering her first few sexual experiences of fumbling and self-discoveries.

"He returned a few minutes later with one of my young chambermaids, a girl no more than 13 or 14 at the time and ordered her to achieve what he could not. She held my eyes for the longest time before kneeling. The practice wasn't uncommon, to use a maid to prepare The Queen for intercourse with The King, but the fear we shared that night and many more after that bonded us in a way I cannot describe.

"Neither of us wished to be used in such a manner and placed blame upon him collectively, though we never spoke of it during private moments during the day in my private chambers. That night her hands trembled as violently as my own, and the feeling of her smooth cheek upon me contrasted so shockingly to the roughness of The King's beard.

"I'm unsure how long the entire ordeal lasted, but The King watched patiently, excited by the sight of this young girl covering her face in my blood and eventually my wetness. She brought me to climax and raised her eyes to mine in such shock that it might have been comical had the situation been different. We understood that my body found pleasure where my mind refused. Her touch had been unwanted and pleasing all at once.

"It lasted only a moment before The King…" Regina's voice cracked hoarsely, and her eyes pleaded with Emma's to let her stop.

"It's okay," Emma soothed, scratching lightly at her scalp. "You don't have to say anything else. I think I got it." Leopold enjoyed himself, probably enthusiastically after it felt good to him with no thought to the damage he inflicted upon her body and mind.

"It is impossible to separate what I truly want from the reaction of my body during such an act," Regina concluded quietly, unable to meet her eyes.

"So, even if you consent, you can't enjoy it?" Emma clarified for her own sake, wanting more than anything to understand Regina. The Queen nodded without raising her eyes.

"Regina, if that is something you never want from me, that's okay. I still want to make…" Two sets of eyes widened, and Emma snapped her jaws shut with a click of her teeth. "To make you feel good," she amended quickly.

Regina nodded, letting the almost slip drift away with the progression of conversation. "I know how wonderful it can feel, Emma, and I've tried with Graham and Azalia, but it's never felt right."

"Hey, it's okay," Emma promised, feeling guilty already for pushing Regina so much. She knew her history and should have been more sensitive. "Like I said, if it never hap…"

"I think it could with you," Regina blurted, nails digging into Emma's chest unconsciously, anchoring herself to reality rather than lose her mind in the fear that statement must have caused. Emma forgot to breathe for a second. She'd never indicated it, not even once, but Emma thought that Regina might have been falling in love with her.

She smiled and held Regina's face tenderly, catching tears with her thumb as they fell. "Then when you're ready, all you have to do is say so. And if it doesn't feel right, we can do other stuff or stop. Don't ever feel obligated to have sex with me if you don't want it, too. I'm sure there will be days when I'm tired or distracted, and I won't want it either."

Regina smirked, tucking the darker emotions back into the dungeon in her mind. "Are you tired or distracted now?"

Emma's lips mirrored her lover's, falling easily into the flirtatious banter. "I had a good night's sleep," she teased, smirk growing into a smile. She lifted her knee, caressing Regina's side.

"I do love your endurance," Regina murmured before sealing their lips in a heated kiss.

A gentle tug on Emma's thigh urged The Savior to flip their positions. The moment her weight pressed into Regina, she felt The Queen stiffen and scrambled upright. Regina took a moment to simply breathe, gaze shooting between Emma and the apex of her thighs. Emma understood the unasked question and lowered her body once more.

"Not today," she whispered against Regina's neck before nipping it playfully. "When you're ready, that decision is completely up to you. I won't ask again, okay?"

Regina nodded, giving herself wholly to the impassioned kiss Emma offered. She felt liberated in her desire and wielded all of it until they both fell sated and spent onto the mattress damp with their sweat and juices. They came together naturally, and Emma wrapped her in strong, safe arms. A swell of happiness burst inside her chest, and both women drifted off in the predawn light, completely unaware of the roar and rumble of a small piece of the curse coming undone as Regina's tears splashed onto her lover's chest.

"Emma," she gasped, and arms tightened around her protectively. Emma wasn't going to let go, and the thought both comforted and terrified her… because, what if one day she did? "I've arranged for you to see your parents later this morning. Horace and Graham will escort you from the mansion."

Emma's own tears fell along side her lover's for the same exact reason. They were falling in love, and for the first time since meeting, it felt good. "Thank you," she whispered into dark hair and held Regina tighter.


	50. Unravel

Sorry, for the fluff break in between this, guys, needed a momentary reprieve to gather my wits because writing Cora is… an interesting experience, to put it mildly. The way that woman makes me feel… eesh.

Thank you for all the wonderful reviews and follows! You get this one bit early just because… well, I post everyday, and I can't work on it anymore. So, enjoy if you can, my dears!

Songs: Because of You by Kelly Clarkson, Just Tonight by The Pretty Reckless

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><p>"Hello, Mother," Regina purred viciously as she moved from the shadows and into the flickering light of her magical web. If asked six weeks ago, Regina would have snapped the neck of the fool who dared to insinuate her mother would be hanging above Maleficent's lair by the influence of her hand.<p>

"Regina, Darling, please stop this nonsense," Cora begged. Genuine fear sparked and clashed in her eyes reflecting the violet of the vortex. Maleficent's deep breathing in the abyss below never failed to elicit such terror, and Regina smiled darkly, reveling in the rush that expression had always given her. She could be this person, both good and evil, kind and cruel.

"Nonsense, Mother?" She clicked her tongue and crossed to the large chair, riding boots tapping and echoing on the stone around her. The riding gear always inspired such a confidence, empowering her in a way far different from the garb of this world that made her feel feminine and desired. Those clothes were not suited to a purpose such as this.

She placed the box containing her mother's heart on the ottoman and lounged in the chair, crossing one leg over the other. "Nonsense was the belief that I'd never uncover your treachery. You stole from our people, Mother. You lied to me," Regina accused, an irrational anger swelling in her chest and manifesting as a light purple in her eyes. Everything hurt but finally made sense, she just failed to see it for an entire lifetime.

"Oh my darling girl, I never lied to you," Cora defended breathily, genuinely surprised by the accusation. "Everything I've done has been for your benefit, including the deal struck with your pet."

"How can you say such things? I hold your heart," Regina demanded. Confusion crashed into her, and she quelled the urge to grab her fuzzy head by the sheer force of her will.

"Perhaps, it is the truth," Cora murmured and smiled shyly at her daughter. "Let Mommy down and we can speak as women, Darling, not as slave and master." Something in Cora's voice shot a hot arrow of anger into Regina's heart.

"I rather like the look of you there, Mother," Regina taunted and propped her elbows on the arms of the chair, slipping a thumb nail between her teeth. "Figuratively speaking, our positions have finally switched," she seethed, knowing in her heart that the words were true. Her entire life consisted of bondage and trading from one person to the next until she'd finally surrendered herself to her mother's will.

"Don't be so melodramatic, Regina," Cora sniffed haughtily, and turned up her best tone of condescension. "You were never a prisoner." A poignant snap of magic meeting flesh echoed in the dark cavern.

Slowly, Cora's head righted itself from the harsh strike upon her face. Regina's chest jogged rapidly as the reality of her own power settled into her. She no longer cared what her mother thought, but instinct and habit screamed at her to beg for forgiveness. Her hands shook with the terrifying freedom of the actions, and a grin spread on her lips, despite the tightness in her chest of having used magic and violence against her mother for the second time in 12 hours.

"I've always been a prisoner, Mother. Yours, The King's, Rumpelstiltskin's, and I've been a captive of my own mind, my own curse for the last 30 years. My entire life has passed in captivity," Regina explained her perspective to unwilling ears. The poor woman truly believed her mother helpless to her will.

Cora returned the vicious smile. "And now you've surrendered yourself to a Savior who only pretends to love you," she jabbed a dagger into her daughter's gut.

Regina snorted despite the lingering doubt the older woman had always inspired. She questioned everything once Cora opened her mouth. "And what do you know of love? No one but me has ever loved you, Mother, and now I'm beginning to question why I ever did."

"Oh you foolish girl," Cora exclaimed and laughed heartily. Regina stiffened, resisting the urge to cower from the familiar and painful sound. How could Cora laugh at her when she'd uncovered everything? The embezzling, the lies, the deceit, her so-called love.

"Why did you take money from the kingdom?" Regina asked as she leaned forward and removed her mother's dark heart from the box. "Answer me honestly," she demanded, giving the organ a little squeeze for the satisfaction of it.

Cora winced and then shifted uncomfortably in the nexus. "I set up a secret fund should it ever be needed for protection," the elder witch answered easily.

"Have you ever used that money to order assassination attempts on Ruby Lucas or Belle French?" Perhaps Ruby's husband acted at her behest, perhaps heartlessly - literally. If the case be such, Ruby's guilt for dishonoring her vows will grow exponentially.

"Why should I do such a thing when Rumpelstiltskin possesses more than enough money to purchase both and then some?" Cora presented the hypothetical, poking at Regina's anger. "Honestly, Regina, I'm shocked you haven't dispatched the wolf's death yet," she threw out casually, as if she knew something that everyone else also knew except for The Queen.

"Speak plainly, Mother," she snapped, coming to her feet.

"You've become something laughable, dear girl. The Savior uses you to free her parents while she and the wolf carry on behind your back," Cora mocked cruelly, playing at her daughter's insecurities.

"Stop lying to me!" Regina screamed, the harsh sound echoing around the cavern. Her chest heaved, but she care not if her mother knew exactly how angry she became.

"Am I?" Cora asked rhetorically. "Ask yourself, my little queen, if she loves you as she claims, why hasn't her kiss broken the curse? The kiss of True Love." Regina froze, unable to speak, to combat the onslaught of logic that tore at her heart. She had pondered that exact point many times, the previous night no exception.

"I know you love her, Regina. Your eyes tell everything when one has experience reading them as I do," Cora pushed her buttons, watching closely as her daughter's carefully placed mask unraveled.

"I've loved no one since you murdered Daniel, not even you, Mother," Regina contended quietly, not even believing the words herself. She loved Ruby, and the love for her mother perhaps stretched deepest of all, the desperate need of her anyway.

"Not even your sister? Your precious little Puppy that you hid from me for 50 years." Real grief sliced at Cora's chest. She'd never had her daughter, no matter how badly she wanted to believe her obedient and disciplined. Regina was weak. "You're pathetic. You never possessed the strength to be queen, to take what you want despite the cost."

"You're right, Mother," Regina agreed, finding a lingering shred of confidence. "I'm not you…" she smirked, "…but I'm also not the one confined in a web of magic she cannot escape. I suppose that means, I win." Regina's taunt hit her target, darkening Cora's eyes.

"You'll wish you were when The Savior breaks your heart," Cora threatened.

Regina returned her heart to the box and held it tightly against her stomach to hide the quiver running through her hands. "We'll see," she murmured darkly and sauntered towards the long, dark hallway leading to the only exit beyond teleporting.

"I'll not comfort you this time, Regina," Cora called after her, and Regina forced herself to maintain a steady pace, never faltering. Her mother still unnerved her, shook her to the very foundation of her identity. She always had.

"Do you hear me, Regina! When Snow White takes control of your kingdom and your pet falls into the arms of your wolf, I'll not be there to catch you!" She laughed savagely. Regina actually believed her foolish enough to carry about her heart where everyone else kept theirs.

Regina leaned against the door heavily, shoulders slumped and head bowed. Despite her anger, tears dripped onto her cheeks. She'd cried more since Emma Swan entered her life than the past 30 years combined. Why was that? Why had she allowed Cora to wiggle inside her mind once more?

She was right. If Emma betrayed Regina with Ruby, The Queen stood abandoned, empty-handed and empty-hearted. She grabbed her chest, pressing her nails through the thick riding jacket. Without thinking, it sank beneath the surface and tugged her wildly thumping heart from its supposedly permanent cavity.

Red and pink swirled, bravely fighting the darkness. The gasp that tore from her lips transformed into heavy sobs that shook and quaked beneath her skin. She dropped to her knees and held the organ tightly against her breasts, unable to see it properly for the blur of tears. Her heart had begun to heal, to feel. To love.

What made it black in the first place? Had hatred itself darkened the once pristine organ? Or had it been some combination of that and her violent actions? She atoned for her transgressions and opened her heart to love at the same time, so she figured that she'd never really know. Either way, it felt wonderful and awful simultaneously. The acts themselves unfolded much easier than contrition.

With a pinch, the strong organ returned to her chest, and Regina pulled a compact from her pocket, not bothering to move off the cold floor. No one ever came here, most had no clue it existed and the rest feared being its next victim. Shaking bodily, she opened the tiny mirror and waved her hand, connecting it to the one always present in Snow White's cell.

The family reunited happily, tears and hugs and gentle touches. Emma allowed Charming to wrap her completely in his long, strong arms.

"How is this possible?" Snow asked, lightly brushing her fingers thru tangled blonde hair, tugging it straight.

"Regina is changing. She's almost there. She just needs a little longer," Emma explained tearfully. "She's almost mine, Mom, and so are you."

Regina snapped the case shut. It meant nothing. Emma babbled like a woman possessed with grief and overcome with emotion. And yet, there was an infallible truthfulness in her incoherency, she belonged to her, she'd been marked. She'd granted permission for the event, so certain of their bond, and now a sliver of doubt slithered in and out of the holes in her heart.

Confused and defeated once more, Regina slouched against the wall and pulled her knees to her chest, hugging them for protection. Emma barely spoke of her parents, that couldn't have been the full reason for her affection. Emma wasn't capable of that sort of subterfuge, her emotions shone too brightly. Didn't they? Cora's mocking laughter echoed in her mind, foolish girl.

Regina grabbed her temples and shut her eyes tightly. "Stop it. Stop it! Stop it!" She pressed her face into the crease between her legs and loosed a wet, hollow wail.

"_Regina, stop smiling. Queens do not smile."_

"_I'm not a queen mother," a very young Regina, no older than 12, grinned cheekily up at her mother._

"_You will be, and your husband shall lock you in a dungeon away from the world, ashamed of the slag he married. Now, sit up straight." Fingernails dug into her shoulders, forcing them into an uncomfortable position, a proper posture for a queen. _

"Mother, stop," Regina begged. "I'll be a good queen. I am a good queen." Sobs and stuttering breaths echoed off the stone walls outside her special torture chamber. She wasn't a good queen. What good queen required an isolated room designed specifically for torturing those who question her authority?

"I'm not a good queen," she amended in a high-pitched whine.

"_Queens do not bow to others, Regina. The people bow to her queen."_

"_Shouldn't the queen work for the people? She's there to govern, isn't she? How terrible must life be for the commoners whose royalty has given up on them," A 16-year-old Regina asked her mother after hearing a lecture on the importance of power above compassion. She'd beaten a slave silly only moments ago, using an invisible whip of magic, and Regina questioned her actions._

_A sharp sting caught her lip almost faster than Cora's hand had moved. "We are not here to be concerned with the lives of filthy peasants, Regina. We're here for power because with power, no one can hurt us."_

_Regina touched the scratch on her lip, slightly mortified at the crimson liquid upon her fingers. "I don't want power, Mother. I just want to be happy." She sniffed, turning her face downwards to hide the tears and the blood. _

"_Happiness is overrated, Regina. You'll see. One day, when you've been wronged terribly, power will be your only solace," Cora warned her and grabbed her by the arm, pinching her skin uncomfortably. "Go to the healer at once. No king shall choose the scarred face of a girl too foolish to hold her tongue."_

Her eyes flew open suddenly, filled with the vision of black riding leather. "You did this to me," she whispered. Cora made her hungry for power, for magic, for vengeance. Had she protected her the only way she knew how or abused her in order to mold her to her own purpose? She allowed The King's abuse, encouraged Rumpelstiltskin's, inflicted much more of her own.

"Why did you do this to me!" Regina screamed at no one but the voices inside her mind. She tugged at her hair while simultaneously pressing the heels of her hands harder into her temples. "Why didn't you protect me?" She asked sadly, knowing for certain mothers ran to the ends of the earth to prevent harm to their children.

Granny and Ruby, Emma and Mason, hell even Snow gave her daughter protection by shipping her to another land. It was her. She came into the world faulty somehow and hadn't deserve the love of her mother, or protection from either of her parents. Perhaps, despite her sweet and gentle demeanor, they'd seen something in her, something inherently evil. It festered inside of her from birth, waiting, a swelling pustule of infection until it burst into the world with the vengeance of Dark Magic.

"I never wanted this," she whimpered. Why hadn't they loved her? "I'm sorry, Mommy. I'm sorry you couldn't love me, but I never wanted this," Regina apologized for her shortcomings. It must have been her. Rumpelstiltskin told her she'd been born with the most powerful blood magic he'd ever felt. Magic brought power, but it rarely accompanied happiness, rarer still a good person. She'd been born evil and had been blissfully ignorant of that fact until Emma Swan injected her with a healthy dose of emotions she'd long since administered sleeping curses.

"I never wanted to feel again," she cried, clawing at her chest. Fingertips caught in a hole between the buttons of her shirt and tore it open. Still, she scratched and scraped at her flesh until welts and bruised bubbled beneath the skin.

"Why did you make me feel!" Damn Emma Swan. "I don't want this," she stated in a deep husky voice, devoid of emotion. Dropping her hand to the cold floor, too weak and broken to tear at her chest, she sucked a shuddering breath, knowing that she never had a choice. The moment she declared Emma Swan as hers, Regina had sealed her own fate.

She collapsed into sobs once more, slumping against the wall, too numb to hold herself upright anymore. If Emma betrayed her, there'd be nothing left. Not even the love for Ruby she'd clung to for so long offered solace in the face of Emma's alleged treachery. Cora's laughter rang in her ears, sparking the last tendril of rebellion left to her soul.

She pressed her face into her knees and cried harder. "Please stop," she begged, knowing that no matter where she went, her mother's harsh, mocking laughter followed. Even after she'd broken free, her mind remained imprisoned.


	51. Vitiation

So, I was dreading this chapter before my pending "divorce" came about. Holy fuck, I need loves. All kinds of loves.

Thanks again for the reviews and follows! You guys are the best!

Song: John's Walk by Jamin Winans, Just Give Me a Reason by P!nk

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><p>"Hey Rubik's Cube, you ever gonna get turned back 'round right?" Emma greeted and plopped onto a stool next to the dozing wolf. She jerked upright at the sound of Emma's voice and wiped at the drool on her face. Graham and Horace snickered at each other and settled into a booth beside Azalia and another guard Emma hadn't met yet. She fought the urge to hiss at the woman she'd seen going after Regina so enthusiastically, thwarted only by the intoxicating memory of marking Regina earlier that morning.<p>

"This fucking chimera venom," she cursed. She felt better but still weak, weaker than a normal human she figured.

"How's the lip?" Emma waggled a finger at her own, wincing slightly when the wolf finally looked up at her.

"A paper cut compared to the bruises on my ribs. It's going to take for-freakin'-ever to heal," Ruby grumbled, wavering slightly on her stool. Emma steadied her, turning sideways and scooting forward on the stool. Ruby leaned into Emma's chest gratefully. She thought it impossible to feel this horrible. Was that what normal people felt like after a brawl?

"Why don't you go upstairs and lay down, woman?" Emma huffed, irritated at the endearing resilience of the magnificent creature in her arms.

"Not while Belle is down here working. I'm not letting her out of my si… Belle?" Ruby glanced to the end of the bar, the last place she'd seen her lover to find nothing but air and an empty plate.

"Ruby Lucas, I am fine," Belle reprimanded the wolf from just behind her, and Emma snickered when Ruby jerked and tensed in her arms. Guess she knew now who wore the pants in that relationship… or the skirt, as it were.

She pressed a loving kiss to the junction between Ruby's neck and shoulder, making Emma swoon and squirm to remove herself from the private moment all at the same time. They'd never been shy about public displays of affection. "I am not made of glass nor am I a damsel in distress. Who could be in distress with so many guards lurking about? One of them even took the trash out for me and has been carrying my bus pan all day."

She glanced up, leaving her hand beneath Ruby's on the wolf's stomach. "Hi Emma," she finally greeted.

"Hey Belle, glad you're getting used to people again. It's nice to see you out and about," Emma complimented her progress. She'd always been tough and resilient, matching Ruby stroke for stroke in that race.

"Apparently, Ruby's heritage has made little difference to the number of hungry citizens who come demanding coffee and pie," Belle explained, slightly irritated as she normally was when around more than a few people at a time. "I suppose Regina has impacted more with her recent changes than we anticipated."

"Told you," Ruby mumbled sleepily, and Emma dropped her head, brow furrowed, to stare at her friend.

"I will not spare you the indignity of being carried up the stairs if you fall asleep on me," she threatened playfully, and Ruby answered with a deep growl.

"You've been around Regina too much. You're starting to sound like her," was the best response Ruby managed, and Emma laughed, vibrating the head on her chest.

"Belle," Granny called from the kitchen window.

"Coming Granny," she called back without looking up from her lover. She kissed her cheek. "Go to bed, Ruby," she urged gently, knowing the stubborn woman wasn't budging an inch until the next shift came in and relieved Belle of her 'people duties' as she called them.

"It's in the middle of the afternoon," Ruby protested without any real conviction and adjusted her head on Emma's chest. "You're bony," she griped.

"So are you, you little shit," Emma bitched wiggling from the shoulder pressing into her sternum.

They fell silent for a moment, enjoying the warmth and comfort of the extended embrace of a trusted friend. Emma propped an elbow on the counter and leaned her head on it. Ruby sighed contentedly, eyelids falling shut only to jerk open a moment later.

"Regina let me see my parents this morning," Emma whispered so low that only Ruby's wolf ears caught the nearly inaudible confession.

"Shit," Ruby blurted, eyes suddenly wide awake. "That's huge."

"I know. I think I'm really getting thru to her. I told her about the deal I made with Cora, and she believed me," Emma whispered excitedly.

"No shit," Ruby digested in slight disbelief.

"I know. I was pretty shocked, too. She took her heart. I mean, can you fucking believe that evil bitch has had her heart this entire time?" Emma quietly seethed, hand twitching a flex against the arm she held. If she'd not felt the aura of rage shoot out from The Savior's body, she certainly would have felt her hand jittering violently with the need to hit something.

"So, what did she do afterwards? I can't imagine Regina taking that very well. She's obsessed with Cora," she pointed out the obvious. Even peasants recognized the desperate need of her mother in The Queen.

"Oh my god, Rubes, the sex…" Emma praised reverently, eyes closing with only the memory. "She is the most… I mean, the things that she can do with…"

Ruby giggled, shaking her head. "Her first reaction was crazy monkey sex?"

"Something like that. Well, first came sex and then came the heart thing… and then I passed out like a fucking rock, and then… my god, the things that woman knows how to do to the female body." Emma shuddered, remembering their second round early this morning. Her muscles stilled burned in her stomach, lower back and shoulder from the attempt to keep up with her lover. That woman had the Olympian-esque endurance during sex.

Ruby laughed out loud, tipping her head up to watch the intense emotions dance over her friend's face. "You're really in love with her, aren't you?" Emma had said as much before, but a part of Ruby never believed her. Like everyone else, she questioned whether or not anyone possessed the ability to love enough to redeem The Evil Queen, even if that queen was her sister.

"I really am," Emma grinned girlishly, complete with bashful eye aversion and a faint blush on her cheeks.

"Don't you want to go home? I mean, to your original timeline?" Ruby pondered with a pang of grief at the thought. If she struggled to think about letting Emma Swan go, Regina must writhe in pain with each fleeting reminder of the fact that Emma hadn't belonged here.

"I mean, yes and no. I miss that timeline, I do, but everyone I love is still here. They're different, and all the memories we made are gone, but… I don't know," Emma deadpanned and sighed with enough velocity to move strands of red and brown hair.

"We're still the same?" Ruby asked, trying to understand. Had anyone actually asked Emma how she felt about being here? Probably not, Ruby theorized and determined to be a better friend to the woman who saved her life numerous times already.

"Something like that. I mean, even my son is more or less the same, just more mature and worldly because of his time in the homes. It's just…" Emma floundered, trying to explain her emotions. As much as she spoke, she rarely dug deeper than needed.

"This Regina is different. I thought she was the same, but… she's not. I guess her experience in this lifetime was too different from the other one. Cora was never part of the original curse. She spent 28 years free of her mindfucking. This Regina is…" Emma smiled blushingly again.

"The one you want," Ruby offered.

Emma nodded. "Yeah, that on top of everyone else being pretty much the same, it makes it really easy to pretend that I belong here. I don't think the guilt will ever go away for wanting to abandon my other family, but…" Emma shrugged, jostling Ruby's head lightly. A pang stabbed her in the chest, and Emma clenched her jaws tightly, sending the muscles there bouncing and jumping.

"You want something for yourself?" The wolf deciphered her complex thoughts.

"I'm selfish," Emma self-deprecated, descending immediately to that wallowing place of guilt and duty that kept her in Storybrooke in the first place.

"Sometimes you need to be selfish in order to move forward," Ruby murmured philosophically, tracking her flouncing bookworm towards a table near the door.

"I'm going to ask Regina to give her the library. It's not like anyone else is running it or using it. I'm sure Belle would do it for free if there wasn't money in the budget, but she can't live in my shadow. I don't want that for her." Ruby mused inwardly, more to herself though she spoke to Emma.

"She needs to be somewhere that she can heal, and learn to function independently again. She can't do that by jumping into a committed relationship with me, living with me, helping me run my business. None of that is fair to her," the wolf admitted sadly, obviously hurting by the thought of letting her go, even as far as across the street.

The Savior grinned down at the wolf. "You're a helluva woman, Ruby Lucas."

"Right back at ya, Swan," Ruby said and glanced up to share a smile with her friend. "We really were best friends in the other timeline, weren't we?"

Emma nodded. "We drank far too much and howled at the moon way too often not to be," she flipped the subject to something with a bit more levity, unable to continue in the deep emotional vein where they'd fallen.

Regina watched them whisper quietly from the back hallway of the diner, not ready to announce her presence to the room full of guards and allies. A burn spread from her chest and set her belly on fire. Cora spoke of the closeness of her pet and sister, but Regina failed to notice, so enamored by the beautiful blonde. The feeling twisted and churned, heating her scratched chest and flushing her cheeks. Her breaths came in harsh, shallow puffs. It wasn't quite anger, but it felt similar, a deep yearning to lash out at both women.

"Majesty?" Belle questioned and gestured for the guard to continue to the dining area after escorting her to the dumpster out back.

Regina straightened her spine but found herself unable to remove her eyes from the affectionate display between her pet and sister. "Miss French," she greeted formally, trying desperately to hide her irritation.

Ruby loosed a throaty laugh, and her hands clenched into fists. Belle felt the emotions surrounding the unpredictable royal and took an unconscious step back. "Do you… are you meeting Emma for a late lunch?" She asked, feeling like she should. She called and Regina came running without hesitation to save Ruby. It went a long way in endearing the freshly changed woman to her former prisoner. She had no need to like her but thought perhaps she might have begun respecting her.

"I imagine the public quite unreceptive of such an endeavor after yesterday's events," Regina clipped, not really sure why she lied. Lunch with Emma came last in the list of things she currently desired.

Belle took the mood swing with grace. "And now that you don't have to be perfect, you can be good," she said softly, hoping the words touched Regina as much as they'd touched her when she read them.

Regina fixed her with a sharp glare and then jerked her head back to the scene when Emma laughed. "What are you blubbering about?"

"It's a quote from John Steinbeck's novel called East of Eden. It might bring you comfort if you let it," she explained hopefully. Clearly, Regina was upset about something, but Belle really only understood Ruby. She'd spent far too long from people to accurately gauge and react to these situations.

"Good day, Miss French," Regina snapped and finally stepped into the dining area. Stomped more accurately described it, unable to contain this uncomfortable emotion in her chest. Belle's eyes narrowed at the extreme reaction. Was Regina jealous of Ruby and Emma?

"Miss Swan, we're leaving," Regina ordered as she came to a stop directly behind the two, arms folded tightly over her chest.

"What? We didn't eat!" Emma protested.

"Of course, that is what you choose to focus on," Regina clipped in what normally would have been a humorous barb at Emma's voracious appetite. Today, it sounded mean, harsh, unlike the Regina she left a few hours ago.

"Regina, what's wrong?" Ruby asked, sitting up straight to meet her sister's eyes.

"Get up, Miss Swan," she commanded, ignoring the wolf completely.

"Okay, bad day, I'll eat at home," Emma accepted the new information without much hassle. That moment presented a horrible instance to grate Regina's nerves. She steadied Ruby completely as she stood.

Belle appeared at Emma's side and nudged her away from Ruby. Emma's eyes narrowed slightly, and the quietly fierce woman met them for a brief moment, saying something Emma hadn't quite understood. It ended far too quickly when her attention focused on her wolf and Regina grabbed her arm, claws digging into red leather.

They teleported before taking two steps and materialized in Emma's room. The Queen jerked her arm forward, catching her off guard and flinging her onto her the bed. Emma smirked and accepted the woman onto her hips, raising up to meet her and shuck her jacket. She truly loved her in this riding outfit, whether she'd ever admitted it or not, and her hands attached to firm thighs covered in the black leather.

Teeth tore at her neck, pulling a wince from the unsuspecting savior. That was different. She pushed at Regina's shoulders, forcing the woman away from her neck until their eyes connected. Something wild and feral danced Regina's eyes.

"What the hell is wrong?" she demanded quietly.

"Your hands on my shoulders, holding me back from what I want," Regina answered maliciously, not a trace of that gentle, slightly broken woman from only a few hours ago. She needed to mark Emma, to lay her claim, to place her ownership against any who might have dared look longingly at her pet. She slapped Emma's hands away and took to her neck again.

"Ow! Fuck. Regina stop!" Emma demanded, grabbing her biceps this time and jerking her bodily. "Stop," she bade more gently when fear sparked in those deliciously dark eyes. She'd never hurt her, Regina knew that. Why the sudden fear?

It gave way to something more sinister that Emma hadn't yet seen in this Regina. It frightened her, like a wild animal, rabid and snarling. "Regina, what's wrong?"

"Does my touch no longer please you?" The Queen asked belligerently. "Has it ever?"

"Uhhh, I do believe the screaming, squirting orgasm I had this morning just before I passed out answers that question," Emma attempted to make her smile. It failed miserably. "You went to see Cora, didn't you?"

"Mother has nothing to do with this. I saw you, Emma," The Queen accused. "My pet dallying with my sister in full view of the public."

"What. The. Frilly fuck? Seriously? Regina, I want you. I'm staying here for you! I'm giving up everything for you," Emma yelled back, losing herself in the emotion of everything. If Regina gave up on them now, she had no reason to stay.

Regina screamed, coming at her face with claws outstretched. Emma barely caught her wrists and allowed the momentum to take them back to the bed. "Let me go!" Regina growled, her voice rasping and rumbling like a demon. Emma trapped her arms between their chests and wrapped hers securely about Regina's back.

"I'm not letting go, Regina," Emma whispered. Regina bucked and squalled, fighting the tears already streaming down her face. Under any other circumstance, she'd have allowed Regina to claw at her face, but not this one. Regina was self-destructing as the pillars of lies supporting her reality crashed down around her, leaving nothing but the ugly truth of the world outside those walls.

"Regina, stop fighting me. I love you. I'm here for you. I'm not letting go," Emma soothed her, or what she hoped was soothing. This was a whole new situation, a whole new Regina.

Regina's body stilled but the violent quivering of her back and chest. Emma wasn't hurting her, she attempted to help. She relaxed as much as possible into Emma's chest, salty wetness already soaking through her tank top. "You can't… love me," she stuttered around gasps. "You're The Savior."

"And I love you," Emma reiterated. "I always have."

Sensing a lull in Regina's fight, Emma released the death grip around her back and trailed feathery fingers over Regina's spine. Time moved differently in that moment, and by the time Regina's painful wails and gasping weeps petered into a blank stare and numb, involuntary breathing, Emma lost track of how many minutes may have passed.

"Emma," Regina breathed, puffing air over the cool, wet spots on her tank top.

"I'm here, Baby," Emma reassured the broken woman.

Regina raised her head and brushed her thumb over Emma's lips. "Please?" Emma sat up slowly and draped strong arms around her hips, and Regina waited.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea, Regina," The Savior said after and few moments of just holding Regina closely. The Queen pressed their foreheads together, eyes closed tightly against the tears of rejection threatening to fall.

"Please, Emma, everything hurts. I just need…" Regina's words fell into Emma's mouth as The Savior pushed it up into hers.

Within a moment, her feet touched the floor, followed by her riding jacket. Soft gasps pulled from Regina's throat, filling their mouths, moving yellow hair when tender lips touched her neck. Trembling fingers worked slowly at the buttons, leaving no inch of skin untouched as the fabric parted. Hands buried in yellow hair, moving with the woman cascading love and affection upon her heated skin but not directing her. Regina lost herself in the sensation of it all, not necessarily arousal, but… This.

This… rightness. The connectedness that grew more potent each time their bodies came together in passion.

Soft fingertips traced the scratches and bruises on the skin above her heart. Green eyes blinked up at her light brown. Regina's chest dipped with every breath, eyes fluttering as she searched for an explanation to the self-inflicted marks. Just as she verged on panic, Emma broke the eye contact and kissed the area, holding Regina's back tightly. Hot puffs of wet air spread over her clavicle and chest as Emma held her lips there, almost on the edge of tears herself. Her own breath hitched, and hands tightened against Emma's head, holding her in place, pleading silently for The Savior to absorb the pain associated with the claw tracks. She dropped her face to the crown of blonde hair tickling her chin, giving her tears to that most precious gold.

Suddenly, hands moved once more, freeing the clasp on her bra. A hot mouth followed the strap down her shoulder until Emma knelt to kiss her fingertips. Green eyes glanced up once more, checking in, asking permission, bearing the soul beneath. How had she ever questioned this? The force of desire rolling from the woman kneeling before her took her breath away, returning it only in short, gasping pants.

Emma's eyes disappeared again as lips attached to her side just above her hip. A hand raised her knee and the other took a riding boot, but the mouth never ceased its gentle sucking and licking of her stomach. Again the sensation of it all overwhelmed Regina, like a fantastic massage, she'd become both aware and unaware of the tender ministrations to her body. Nothing hurt, but everything _felt._

Her body moved once more, and her eyes blinked, finding the ceiling above her instead of a wall. Her leather pants, warm and tight around her legs and hips left loose, cooling skin as they disappeared. Emma's hands replaced them. Fingernails trailed backwards up her thigh, tickling rather than scratching. Fingers hooked into her red laced panties, the same ones she'd worn the first time they'd almost had sex. It seemed fitting, she thought as her hips raised of their own volition.

Emma stared down at her. For a moment, the room lost oxygen. Hazy, emotional, unveiled desire burned in Emma's eyes, her flushed chest, the parted lips that pulled and pushed at the air her body so desperately needed. With languid almost labored movements, Emma removed her shirt, dropping it to the floor with loose fingertips at her side. Her bra followed. Regina swallowed roughly, unsure exactly what Emma proved by maintaining such intoxicating eye contact, allowing her to see the weakness, the need, the love.

She reached for her belt and the button of her jeans without breaking the intense stare. They slid over her hips, taking her panties with them, and Emma stepped out of her boots clumsily, as Emma often was. "I'm yours," she whispered, unable to stop the rapid blinking as tears tumbled onto her cheeks.

Regina sucked a wet gasp right along side her savior, but no words answered the declaration. Not when Emma moved towards her with such hunger.

No little quips spilled from Emma's lips as they normally had, only soft kisses on her calf, the inside of her knees, her hip bones… and tiny gasps and sighs when The Savior's own emotions overwhelmed her. After an eternity of heated breaths and loving caresses of palms and lips and tongue, Emma's mouth finally reached hers. Their bodies slid together, legs intertwined, stomachs and hips gliding.

Things she'd never felt before swelled and exploded inside of Regina, terrifying her in a way she'd never dreamed possible. Fear of losing control, fear of maintaining it. Fear of losing this sensation, of feeling nothing and everything, every nerve and emotion energized and dulled simultaneously. Emma's hips rolled into her thigh, and she felt her own wetness spread onto her lover's, stimulating not just her erogenous zones but everything.

Emma buried her face into her neck and slipped a hand between them. A single finger dipped into Regina's slick lips, barely penetrating her as an instantly wet palm slid gently against the sensitive bundle of nerves. Regina's hips rolled and pushed and begged for more with their jerking movements, but Emma refused her, making her feel, making her gasp and sigh as the torn pieces of her burned together to create jagged red lines of scars and wounds inside her mind.

"I love you," she whispered into her neck, her own mind crying out for release from this emotionally torturous healing balm.

She pulled back enough to meet Regina's eyes. The pale green stared at her compassionately, her body never ceasing the voluptuous undulating of palliative electricity. A hand touched The Savior's face, and Regina gasped to recognize it as her own. Her own fingers in blonde hair, her own wrist pulling the other woman closer.

"Emma, I…" Regina's voice cracked, sending a torrent of tears down her face. Emma caught them with her lips and tongue. "I want you," she whispered into golden hair.

"I'm yours," Emma sniffed back her own emotional sobs and found Regina's mouth once more. It disappeared as quickly as it came and a forehead pressed into her neck. "You don't have to hurt anymore, Regina."

"I don't want to," Regina answered, feeling her body start to come undone. "Tell me again, Emma."

She needn't have asked what. "I love you," came the breathy reply. Regina gasped, body jerking with the enunciation of the words, saying what Regina couldn't yet.

"I love you," Emma repeated and pressed a kiss to her throat. "I love you."

Regina came undone with silent tears and a tiny gasp. Her arms latched around Emma's neck and shoulders, holding her in place as though she might have gone somewhere. She'd not thought herself capable of more tears, but they came anyway. They came in torrents. They came until Regina's lungs wheezed and Emma's neck and collarbone bone were so soaked that Regina's face felt like she'd just showered.

"Let me love you," Emma pleaded into her neck, patiently bringing her back into reality, a place Regina seemed reluctant to reenter. "Let me love you, Regina."


	52. Revelations: The Second Coming

Thank you, dear friends, for the reviews and the follows! As for this chapter, it took a bit longer and I apologize, I'm not sorry for the content, and I'm totally ready to be flamed.

That said, enjoy!

Songs: Listen by Beyonce (This music video is pretty much the visual representation of how I picture Regina's internal life at the moment. Something cathartic about turning it up as loud as possible while editing this chapter… it's been an interesting couple hours.), Carry on My Wayward Son by Kansas

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><p>"Damn it!" Regina cursed and slammed the cookie sheet onto the marble counter. Charcoaled bits of chocolate chips bounced from the pan and skittered across the white and blue surface. Carry on my Wayward Son played at a moderate level, almost drowning out the arrival of her beloved pet.<p>

"Regina?" Emma's soft voice called from the doorway, hesitant to enter lest she get burnt crispy. She nearly keeled over when her eyes glimpsed the apron string tied childishly on Regina's lower back. "Or Joanna," she muttered.

"That is the third attempt, and I've burned every wretched, sugary disk of flour, confection, and chocolate," Regina explained and leaned heavily on the counter, arms spread wide and head bowed. She glared at the ornate pewter box containing her mother's heart. Everything she'd done had been in conjunction with the wishes of that one object, but not this. This was hers.

"Do you want me to help?" Emma asked, stepping into the room and crossing to her lover. Regina's shoulders drooped, releasing their tension when Emma's strong arms encircled her waist, firm enough to show her love but loose enough to let Regina know she wasn't confined.

"I think I need to accomplish this alone," Regina answered honestly and leaned back into Emma's warm body, raising a hand to the back of her lover's neck lightly. They swayed to and fro in a lazy dance, and Regina wondered if a softer, more romantic tune played inside her pet's mind.

"Okay," Emma accepted easily but held her closely still, soaking up the sensation of this woman against her.

"Who is Joanna?" Regina asked absently.

"A Stepford wife. Played by Nicole Kidman in the remake," Emma explained, fully expecting Regina to get it.

"What on earth is a Stepford wife?" Regina sniped, irritated at her ignorance. Ruby understood Emma's references to this world's pop culture much more fluently than she.

"They're…" Emma sighed in frustration. "Y'know what, let's watch the movie when you come back upstairs. Sound good?" Emma suggested, figuring the visual experience would have explained everything better. Regina nodded and Emma nestled further into her neck and shoulder.

"I was worried when I woke up and you weren't with me," she confessed quietly and kissed Regina's neck. After their extremely emotional sex, they'd cried themselves to sleep in the tight embrace of the other. Emma woke with a pissed off stomach on a few minutes ago.

As if a sound cue called by a stage manager, the organ groaned a monstrous protest. Regina chuckled. "Greg has prepared a plate to be heated for your insatiable appetite," she said and pointed towards the covered dish on the counter between her failed cookie attempt and the box holding Cora's heart.

"Awesome," Emma chirped. Still, she held Regina tightly, unwilling to relinquish the comfort just feeling the other woman brought. Not even the draw of food squelched the hunger she felt for Regina, more than the hunger for food.

"Emma, I…" Regina started, stopped, scratched the back of The Savior's neck. "I seem to be quite confused at the moment. Quite mad, I'm afraid. Please accept my apologies for attacking you earlier," Regina stated more regally and methodically than apologetically and remorsefully.

"It's totally cool," Emma let her off the hook easily since a line of communication had been opened and utilized. "Do you want to talk about what upset you so much?" Emma asked cautiously, nuzzling into black hair just behind Regina's ear. The Kansas song started over, and they waited quietly for the first singing of the chorus to segue into an oddly placed guitar rift.

"I'm uncertain exactly how to explain my own thoughts," Regina admitted, slightly ashamed of her breakdown outside the isolation chamber. How could Emma have possibly understood or even accepted such internal turmoil? As The Queen, she witnessed many during such a state after the execution of family members or just before their own, but never for something as silly as memories.

"Do you want to try?" Emma nudged gently, always mindful of Regina's mental and emotional limitations. She sighed lightly into her neck, helpless but willing.

Regina shook her head. No matter how much Emma loved her or supported her, her influence and words solved nothing. Her mind was broken, and as acute as her desire to fix it, Regina knew the fixing came with understanding. And, she hadn't reached that yet. So she twirled in the loose embrace and wrapped one arm around Emma's back, the elbow of the other resting lightly on her strong shoulder. She cupped the back of Emma's head, fingers tangled in blonde hair, and brought their lips together. Emma hummed, continuing the slight swaying motion. Her Regina had come back to her, gentle and elusive and determined.

"I want to make cookies," The Queen announced, abandoning Emma abruptly to dump the miserable attempt into the trash can.

"Oh-kay," Emma said, befuddled once again by her lover's odd behavior. "Any particular reason why you felt the need to make cookies now? It's like nine o'clock," The Savior popped her plate into the microwave and levered onto the counter to wait. Regina scraped the remnants of burnt cookie from the dark sheet and sighed deeply.

"I want to understand," she answered cryptically. Emma's eyes narrowed but her tongue lay silent in her mouth. "Creating this simple baked food is the first decision I've ever made in my life that was not touched by Mother's influence."

Oh. That. Emma touched her shoulder as she returned to it and scooted towards the edge. Regina glanced at her spread knees and then back to those patient green eyes. Emma grinned and greedily pulled her lover's body into, addicted to the feeling of it. She hummed again, smiling into Regina's neck.

"Do you feel better, at least?" She asked quietly, careful not to push her lover beyond her emotional threshold lest there be another episode before Regina accepted the first one. She'd broken free, but her fragile emotional state now require even more tender nudges than before. If tugged too harshly or pushed to roughly, Regina came crumbling down around her with now way for Emma to prevent or patch the destruction.

She was a woman on the brink of madness, and perhaps the only sliver of insulation against that was making the damn cookies properly and Emma's warm embrace.

"You have always made me feel better, Emma. Your touch is something of a magic of its own," Regina confided surprising both of them. She smiled bashfully up at her savior and then dropped her gaze, leaning her forehead into Emma's shoulders.

Trembling fingers reached behind her and pulled Emma's hands to the space between them. She raised the wrist bearing her mark to her mouth and pressed a lingering kiss to the leather band burned into her pet's skin. It meant so much more than the ownership which originally placed it there. Emma's heart thumped wildly under the influence of the incredibly intimate act, maybe more meaningful than anything else Regina had ever done to her. Her head bowed slightly, mouth resting against silky black hair.

Slowly, she replaced the hand in Emma's lap and brushed the back of her knuckles over the band on her other wrist, the one preventing the use of her magic. They both gasped when Regina waved her hand over the restraint, releasing its hold on The Savior's power.

"Regina, are you sure?" Emma breathed, overcome with the brute strength of the energy coursing thru her veins, proof of the intense emotions she felt with Regina in her arms.

"Your magic originates in love, Emma. That should never be hidden from the world," Regina stated quietly, fearfully. A part of her expected an immediate backlash, an attack from the woman who claimed to love her. Instead, strong arms wrapped around her back, holding her so tight that nothing hurt despite the tightness in her chest with ever breath.

The microwave dinged, but Emma neglected her stomach for a few minutes longer, offering her broken lover all the love she could ever possibly handle. Regina was hers, finally, after the string of heartache and torture and Cora. Regina chose her, as she'd always chosen the brazen slightly psychotic queen.

"Please take your dinner in your room. I really must do this by myself," Regina dismissed her quietly after a few minutes and slipped the magic prohibiting bracelet into the front pocket of her apron. Emma nodded and slipped from the counter, keeping her body pressed to Regina's as she took a step backwards.

"If you need me, I'll come," Emma promised and tipped her face up with a hand on her neck, pushing her head up with a thumb beneath her chin.

"I know," Regina said with a smile and pressed her lips up to her pet's. "Thank you for earlier. I'd love to reciprocate after you've eaten a warm cookie." A tongue slid over those plump red lips unconsciously, eyes flicking downwards. Emma knew exactly how Regina planned to show her appreciation and shuddered with anticipation.

"If you want, I won't say no." Emma winked and grinned mischievously. Regina rolled her eyes and shoved her hips.

As Emma sauntered from the kitchen with an aroma trailing from her plate, Regina turned a dark gaze upon the bowl of cookie dough still waiting to be baked. "I will destroy you," she vowed and snagged the spoon with a fresh brand of determination.

After two more failed attempts and a momentary pause to clean dough from the cabinet where she'd flung the spoon, Regina finally pulled out a freshly baked dozen of decent-looking treats. She grinned broadly, poking the tops with the pad of her finger. "You are mine," she hissed triumphantly.

"Oh! Majesty," Astrid exclaimed and pressed a hand to her chest, flustered and flushed from the slight jolt of finding another person in the kitchen at that hour. "I came to check that Emma had eaten her dinner."

"Good evening, Astrid," Regina greeted, grinning like a fool. "Please, have a cookie," she urged and tipped the pan towards her faithful servant. Astrid eyed them skeptically and then picked up one gingerly, careful not to touch the hot pan.

She bit into it, eyes flying open wide. "Regina, these are delicious!" She praised, eyes widening for an entirely different purpose. "Majesty, please forgive me. Apologies," she gushed, dropping her gaze to the floor.

Regina sat the tray on the cooling rack and touched the maid's hair softly. "You may call me Regina in private, Astrid. You've earned that much," Regina granted emotionally, mind instantly full of memories.

The servant raised her head slowly, acknowledgement in her eyes. She touched the back of the hand on her cheek with reverent fingertips and then turned her head to press a kiss into her queen's palm. "I was only happy to have been capable of relieving your suffering, Regina."

Something clenched and jerked inside Regina's chest at the quiet and honest admission. "And what of your suffering, Astrid?" Astrid comforted her, brought her to the only orgasms she'd ever experienced before The King's death. Regina thought only of herself during those long years, and vengeance and the grief of losing Daniel. She thought nothing of the effect such acts wrought on a young girl's mind.

"I have my heart and have been protected and revered as one who has been favored by you, Majesty. In this world, that is enough privilege and restitution than should have been asked for, much less given freely," Astrid soothed her gracefully, as she always had. "The King was to blame, not you."

Regina's shoulders drooped under the heavy statement made in such a small voice. "I understood that you'd never betray me, not after enduring such things at my side. We have been forever bonded, have we not?" Regina surprised both of them, not only by acknowledging her actions but taking responsibility and credit for them. It wasn't exactly a declaration of love and respect, but the decree edged as close to those things as Regina was capable at the moment. Astrid smiled brightly and nodded.

"Oh, how touching," a vicious voice shattered the moment.

Astrid whipped about, but Regina already moved, placing herself between her mother and the beloved maid. Her lip pulled into a feral snarl, challenging the older woman from the very start. "How have you escaped? I have your heart, and anyone who knows the location of that room is controlled by heart magic."

Cora smirked. "Oh Darling, do you honestly believe I'd leave my heart lying about where everyone else keeps theirs?" A harsh mocking laughter tumbling from her mother's lips, and Regina winced at the sound that had become her nightmare. Whose heart had she been lugging around in a box?

Regina reached for the loose organ, but Cora's magic snatched it up too quickly. Astrid let out a wet gasp and bowed her head. "I'm sorry, Majesty," she whispered. Regina gaped at her servant, too mortified to speak. How long has Astrid suffered? What horrors? How much had Emma divulged to her personal maid?

"You've been a very good girl," Cora cooed, and Regina recoiled from the false tenderness in her voice. "You may release yourself as I've instructed."

"Of course," Astrid whispered, head bowed. Regina lunged for the woman holding her heart, remembering Emma catching her off guard enough to hurt her with physical force rather than magic. In her current state, her magic came sporadically at best. Too many softer emotions eclipsed her anger.

Another force thwarted the attempt from behind. Rumpelstiltskin's maniacal laughter gripped her spine with frozen fingers. Regina dug deeply for the rage that used to be so close to her surface and shoved against The Dark One's hold with all the strength she possessed. It wasn't enough.

Astrid's watery brown eyes met her own as she held the tip of large kitchen knife to the side of her neck with a trembling hand. "I'm sorry," she said again.

A wet, strangled cry echoed off the walls, and Regina blinked, praying for strength to whatever god might have shown mercy to such a monster. The tip of the blade sank into that pale slender throat a few inches. Blood wept around the blade and then spurted to the thundering beat of Astrid's pulse. The sound of a faint rain spattered against her front, and Regina snapped, the color of red filling her vision, from the rage as much as the droplets now sprayed over the front of her apron.

Astrid's body fell to the floor, convulsing slightly with the pain and the feeling of life leaving her. A crimson pool spread slowly from the knife wound in her neck that severed a major artery on one side. The liquid only gurgled now, bubbling from the wound as syrup from a bottle turned on its side. The slowly widening circumference hypnotized all of them in a way, each lost in their own reckonings of what could not be undone.

Regina focused on the spreading red over the white of the kitchen floor, the blood pounding in her ears and the whoosh of her breath the only sounds audible. Reality crashed into her a moment later as the rage broke the hold of Rumpelstiltskin's magic.

"NO!" A hollow, ragged growl of a wail that sounded more like the cry of a wild cat than a human voice tore from Regina's throat.

She stumbled forward as the magical restraints broke. Had she been herself, she might have fought back. She might have won. She might have saved them all. In her current state, she fell to her knees in the slippery, hot liquid and pressed her hand to Astrid's already still throat, catching the last of the grenadine liquid between her fingers. Regina thought the feeling of Astrid's blood on her hands suited the moment as the maid's eyes stared up at her, seeing nothing, absorbing everything. She'd endangered another person she cared for, placing them directly in the line of fire, like Ruby and Granny and Emma and Mason… even Belle.

"Astrid," Regina whispered, shaking her lightly. "Astrid, wake up. I can heal you," she promised softly, chin quivering as the unending grief surfaced in her chest once more. "Mother, why have you done this?" She demanded, but the words came out stunted and wet and strained from the burn of tears in her throat.

"Astrid!" Regina cried, head falling to the corpse's warm but unmoving chest. "Astrid, wake up!" She grabbed at the fabric of her simple dress and jerked at the unmoving woman. Hot tears matched the temperature of her knees, flowing freely onto the dress of the woman who had brought much comfort to her life, at times her only source.

"Your savior knew of the consequences for reneging on our arrangement," Cora reasoned, something darker flickering in her eyes. Something indefinable but perhaps resembled grief for the destruction she'd wrought, the visceral experience of it.

"You did this to her!" She screamed, jerking upright to glare at her mother. Her arm flew out, but a crunch at the back of her head stopped any sort of magic from flying from her fingertips, surely enough to kill the elder sorceress on the spot.

The bent pan clattered to the floor from Rumpel's fingertips beside the broken and scattered cookie bits from Regina's perfect batch. "Sometimes, violence is best," he explained with a self-satisfied grin.

Regina moaned, the flimsy sheet not enough to take her out completely. She struggled to sit up, still dazed, and cried out at the feeling of a thin leather band slipping around her wrist. She'd released Emma and condemned herself. They'd taken her magic. They'd taken Astrid. They'd take Emma next.

"Now, Dearie, perhaps you'd enjoy a taste of your own medicine. Do you think Maleficent will be as agreeable without your magic to persuade her so?" He dripped into her ear with a hot, wet whisper.

"No," Regina begged. "Emma!" Regina screamed, bucking and flailing against her former mentor's grip. "Graham!" She'd sent everyone away from her, determined to accomplish something alone. "Emma!"

Rumpel clapped a hand over her mouth, muffling the desperate screams. "I've got The Queen. You know what to do," he ordered and squeezed the pouch at his waist. Cora winced and grabbed at her chest, death and destruction shooting from her eyes and glancing off the imp as a pebble might a giant.

"Of course, My Lord."

Moving only her eyes, Regina glanced at the velvet pouch, recognizing it immediately as one the sorcerer used to hold hearts. Mother and daughter connected gazes, both tortured, both seen for the first time. "Mommy?" Regina whispered against the rough flesh of the hand holding her mouth. The word came out muffled and indecipherable.

Cora waved her hand, removing the scattered bits of her daughter's reality from the room, sending the entire gory scene to the floor of Regina's isolation room to further torture the already broken mind of The Queen. Rumpelstiltskin giggled fiendishly. With a flick of his wrist, Cora gasped and gritted her teeth against the transformation happening in her body. Regina seized the moment to flail and fight, clawing at his arm, his face, his neck. Air whooshed out of her when the side of his fist slammed into her diaphragm, taking her breath and quelling the physical exertion. They disappeared a moment later when the telling taps of The Savior's boots on the hardwood of the foyer signaled her fast approach.

"Hey, I heard you yelling. What's wrong?" Emma asked, flushed from the exertion and panic of her hasty return.

Cora glanced down at her body, knowing what she'd find but surprised anyway, and then back at the woman studying her with narrow, concerned eyes. Emma stepped forward and took her shoulders gently, tenderly, and ducked her head to hold the gaze of the shorter woman.

"Regina, what's wrong? You look scared out of your mind," Emma asked a little more forcefully this time.

"I…" Even the vocal cords vibrating in her throat felt differently. "I believe I dozed off and experienced a nightmare," Cora used Regina's voice and mouth to lie, praying she fooled the woman who knew her daughter's nuances as well as she.

"Hey," Emma said softly and offered a small, kind smile. "It's okay." She pulled the reluctant body into her embrace, soothing her hand over her shoulder blades and around her waist. "I've got you, Baby."


	53. Veritas

So, apparently, I'm terrible at warnings because I just assume everyone expects me to be horrible and I don't want to spoil the chapter… so, this is your warning. There will be female badassery.

That said, thank you all so much for the reviews and bashings and all the glorious things I've encountered in the past two days! The one about being hit with a crowbar was my favorite. *winks* This is not sarcasm, I'm super glad I could move you so deeply and that you love my little creatures as much as I do.

Songs: Hunger and Invincible by Amaranthe (love these guys!)

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><p>Rolling from her back and onto her side towards Regina, Emma stretched her arms above her head. She left one under her cheek and draped the other over Regina's hips. She squinted at the bright sunlight pouring across the bed and clamped her eyes shut tightly as she pressed a kiss to Regina's bare shoulder.<p>

"Morning," she murmured and nuzzled the soft skin that smelled faintly of the citrus tang of expensive perfume. "Did you change your body wash?"

"How on earth have you memorized my scent already?" Cora in Regina's body griped, tensing slightly under the tender affection. The beautiful allure of The Savior sucked her in, too. Such unhindered attention seduced her into a tentative security, and Cora secretly hoped the time spent with this partially naïve woman repaired Regina's soul enough to withstand whatever horrors her master inflicted.

"It's a very intoxicating scent. How could I not memorize it?" Emma crooned around increasingly persistent and amorous kisses. "No more nightmares?" She asked when she reached her neck.

"No," came the clipped answer. Regina squirmed and turned her head to the side, squeezing Emma's face from the sensitive flesh. Too much time had passed since she'd felt such a tender touch, and something in her soul wriggled to life. Rumpel used to touch her with such affection, before Regina had been born, before he felt the sheer force of Regina's blood magic.

"Hey, you okay?" Emma asked, brow furrowed, and raised her head to study Regina's face. The older woman felt off last night, and she felt off now, like Regina but not quite. They'd not had sex. Regina expressed her emotions with the physical act of intercourse, just like others cried or talked their issues to death. It felt wrong to have gone to sleep without easing her queen's suffering.

"I do not wish to discuss the matter," Cora groused and sat up, removing the temptation of her daughter's body from the obviously wanting savior.

Emma flopped back into the bed and wiggled into the pillows, taking the rejection in stride. She grinned up at the face of the woman she loved, head cocked slightly to the side. Thin fingers linked over her muscled stomach. "If you want to talk, I'm here. You're obviously really upset about whatever you dreamed last night, so if you want to…" She left the statement open, refraining from commenting on Regina's odd behavior. Whatever she'd seen combined with the past few days really threw her for a loop. No wonder Regina felt off, unreadable.

Cora stared down at the other woman, face indecipherably blank. Emma squinted, turned her head to the other side. Finally, she sighed with a little laugh and glanced toward the clock beside her bed. Regina refrained from slapping her or sniping at her, so she figured The Queen only needed to collect her thoughts before sharing them. Perhaps she felt too raw after their emotion-fest the previous afternoon to go thru it twice in one day.

Her body jolted with a thick sense of wrongness as her brain registered the clock, something, everything yet nothing felt wrong. "Huh. Astrid didn't come to wake us?" Emma tossed out absently and shoved a thumb into her eye, rubbing away the sleep.

"I sent her away. You slept so peacefully," Cora lied easily as she slipped from the bed. "You should ready yourself for the day." Emma observed far more astutely than she'd given her credit for initially. Within a day, The Savior will have uncovered their plot, and the thought gave her a sense of satisfaction. Regina would not suffer long.

"Hey," Emma caught her attention before she disappeared into Regina's bedroom. "Are you sure you're okay?" Cora held the extended gaze before nodding once, foreign yet familiar black hair bouncing around her shoulders.

Emma offered one last smile before Cora fled to the safety of Regina's room. She waited until the spray began in Emma's shower and then waved her hand over the mirror on the back of Regina's vanity, spying on her daughter and her master in the room Regina kept hidden so well for so long. A sliver of pride swelled in her chest. Regina had never really submitted to any of them. Dread eclipsed the feeling far too quickly because she understood that The Dark One gave her unfettered viewing access for the sole fact that he knew she'd used it and that it tortured her soul to be so helpless.

An ear-splitting scream came thru the portal before an image flickered to life. Regina hung in the magical nexus, one of her own creating. Rumpel stood at the edge of the cliff, hand outstretched towards The Queen. Regina fell limp as he simultaneously dropped his hand. Dark eyes glared from the bowed head at the wicked imp, determined eyes, unyielding and unbroken eyes.

"Regina, dearie, this pain can stop if you only agreed to my offer," he reminded her condescendingly. Regina raised her head slowly, methodically, and Rumpel perked.

"You're a bastard," she seethed. Her head snapped to the side under the force of his magical strike, and she chuckled darkly before spitting blood and saliva into the chasm below, some sticking to her lip to dribble down her chin. "I'll never willingly give you what you want, and you can't use my heart," she taunted him.

His hand flew out in fury, and Regina's head snapped backwards as the energy coursed thru her body. Every nerve ending sparked and crackled, like the harsh bite of static electricity that originated beneath her skin and bubbled to the surface instead of an external source. She gritted her teeth against the satisfactory scream trying to rip from her throat. Anything that gave him joy she denied as long as possible, but not forever.

He grinned savagely as her hollow squall bounced off the damp stone walls, reverberating to his very core. He'd dreamed of this day for so long, the day Regina had no choice, the day he exuded complete control. Given her fragile mental and emotional state, he figured she'd have broken after a night of his games. He released his magical hold, and her head fell forward again, jerking violently against her neck.

She half laughed, half panted. "You can't break me," she rasped, voice raw and scratched from screaming every few minutes.

"We'll see," he lilted. Kicking Astrid's cold foot intentionally, he stalked towards the back of the cave where he set up his supplies, mostly water and energy bars to maintain his level of power. Non-magic wielders had no clue how much energy magic required, sure, it came from emotions, but those wore a person down eventually.

Regina clamped her eyes shut tightly, head whipping to the side and away from the image of her slain companion. It'd been burned into her mind already, but she thought perhaps less exposure might have spared her the nightmares of it. She knew that, too, was only a fantasy. She waited until the image of Astrid's unseeing gaze and gray skin faded, regaining her strength and resolve. Emma gave her a reason to fight, and her mother provided a clarity previously unseen for decades. Both soothed the harshness of her reality.

"What exactly do you think will be accomplished by this child's game you play?" Regina belittled his efforts hoarsely, words almost indistinguishable from the abused throat.

"Your life was supposed to be mine," he explained, swaggering confidently to the edge of the chasm.

Regina loosed an insane giggle that might have intentionally mimicked his own had she been of sound mind. The Queen teetered dangerously on a psychological cliff, swaying to and fro, teasing him with her almost-lunges into that darkness, that delicious insanity. "I'd have happily been yours. You destroyed that when you attempted to break me last time," she taunted.

Whimpering, her arms pulled tight against the magic restraints of her web. A slow, excruciating slice, like a blade dragged horizontally over her chest with care and precision, split the fabric of her shirt and skin. Hot crimson liquid spilled onto her chest, soaking the royal blue shirt with more stains. Her blood this time, not Astrid's, though the feeling of it still warmed her hands.

"Give me a child, Regina, and this shall end," Rumpel dangled the offer in front of her like a lifeline.

"I cannot bear children," Regina seethed, wanting more than anything to rip his eyes out with her nails. Instead of pulling fruitlessly and wasting her strength, she forced calm, even breaths into her lungs. Her mother spent much time teaching her how to withstand mental and physical torture. She prepared her for this moment without even realizing it.

"You can now," Rumpel countered gleefully. "The Savior made love to you, broke the curse's hold on your body." Excitement grew in his eyes, and Regina rolled hers, fed up with this game.

"We've done many things, making love was never one of them," she muttered darkly. Even she struggled to believe the weak protest. She may have been slow on the uptake, but Emma had only ever made love to her, loved her, comforted her with sex because Regina understood it. Her head whipped up suddenly, the words only now processing in her hazy mind. "What curse?"

"Ahhh, have your attention, do I, dearie?" He purred, his timbre an ice cube slipping up her spine. She almost regretted asking the question when he clearly felt so much satisfaction from her misery. Her teeth clamped shut, refusing to say anything else that added fodder to the breadth of his already expansive arsenal.

"When you came of age, your mother very inconveniently slipped a potion into a cup of tea during one of your lessons. Perhaps you recall such a day when you were forced to consume all the liquid before being released?" Regina's features hardened, the memories of that day very clear. She'd been confused by her mother's behavior, forcing her to drink an entire pot of tea. Everything made sense now.

"My mother cursed me with infertility," Regina summoned the strength to utter the words. A clash of conflicting emotions swirled and struggled for dominance in her heart. The truth finally set her free, but the years of torment remained. How much had her mother tortured her at her master's behest? How much had she done to protect her? How much had she done because she envied her, hated her? Had she been capable, Regina might have grabbed her temples in attempt to acclimate all of the new information to her reality.

The Dark One waved his hands in a flourish, like a two bit magician yelling abracadabra. A solitary tear blinked onto her cheek and left a cool, itchy trek to her jaw. Her entire life had never been her own. She was a thing, a pawn. Brand new rage coursed through her, and the bracelet glowed and shimmered as she tried to break free with the sheer strength of her will.

"OO! Feisty," Rumpel exclaimed, jumping bodily as though the display of power gave him a jolt of arousal. Regina swallowed thickly and forced more magic into the bracelet. Weak, physically and mentally, the rage faded and the leather band slowly returned to a dull black. If she'd never released Emma's magic, he never would have captured her. Yet, not on thing inside of her regretted having done it. Emma would come for her, she felt it.

"What do you hope to achieve with my child?" Regina demanded regally. Surely, his insane desire ran far deeper than paternal instincts.

"To rule the world, of course. Your mother set us back a few decades, but no matter when you're immortal," he explained, grin growing as different emotions danced across her face and settled in her eyes. "With our combined powers, the child would be unstoppable, capable of opening a portal to any land, any where, at any time, with only a thought. Your entire life is testament to how easily a child may be controlled by her parent."

Regina swallowed, the rawness in the tender flesh of her throat burning with the motion. "You're mad. I'll never submit to your will," she said, tipping her chin defiantly in challenge. Cora had controlled her for the last time. She'd spent a life time searching desperately for a way to prevent this very event, breaking her mind slowly to keep her close. It wasn't quite love, and yet, it was. It was the best they'd ever had a chance of experiencing.

He giggled and squeezed his fingers into a fist around her guts. She winced and whimpered but endured the pain without breaking eye contact. She was not a dog. He bared his teeth in a feral smile and twisted harder. She cried out, gasping and heaving but steadfast in her defiant stare. Another moment passed, and he released her. A cry of relief bubbled in her chest, but she caged it, controlling what she gave him.

"If you shall not give me what I want, do not think for a moment that I will not take it. I've done it before, Regina. Do you remember?" He twisted the knife in her mind. She gritted her teeth, struggling more now to hold her head up than during the physical torture.

"Do you remember that night? The night you cried and begged, and then…" He shuddered, eyes slipping shut, enjoying the memory fully. A hand slid down his stomach and rubbed at his rapidly hardening crotch. "You came to life that night, let yourself enjoy it. Hurt me as much as I hurt you, do you remember, Regina? I allowed the scratches on my shoulder to heal, to scar. You have no need for Emma Swan, my queen, I've borne your mark for decades."

Regina's eyelids fluttered. She knew the night he spoke of, the night she discovered the one way to harm Rumpelstiltskin without consequence. And she liked it. She loved the feeling of him squirming and writhing beneath her as she took him as roughly as he'd taken her. As many as she'd murdered and tortured and maimed, nothing had replicated the dirtiness her soul felt that night as she sat in a cooling bath with knees drawn tightly to her chest. Water and soap rinsed his touch from her body, soothed the ache between her scratched and shaking legs, the bruises across her skin. Nothing erased his fingerprints from her soul.

Except Emma's. The thought struck her fast and hard, and Regina recoiled with the sudden flood of emotions coursing thru her. Emma healed the festering wounds inflicted by this demon, by her mother, by The King, by the world that had abandoned her. Emma would come for her. She knew it, she felt it.

"I will never be your queen," Regina seethed.

"Then you will see your people slaughtered, your pet killed, your sister raped and tortured until the wolf's body has become to weak to pump her heart. Wolves are resilient creatures," he said pointedly, and Regina's stomach churned, sending bile up her throat. If captured, Ruby's wolf strength ensured more torture than the human mind capable of withstanding, even if her body continued living.

"I wonder how many times I can rape her before she dies," he pondered, almost casually. "How many holes can I fill before her heart quits from exhaustion? Her hips are thin. I suppose her perfect ass to be the tightest sheath I've ever attempted, tighter than yours, Regina. Do you remember that night?"

She knew exactly what he meant to do, to break her mentally as much as physically. He tortured her with her worst memories, linking them to those she loved the most, ensuring the emotional torture lasted long after she'd escaped, every time she glanced at Ruby until this ordeal passed. The implication shone brightly, even if it never fell from his lips. If Ruby or Emma became his victims, she'd be blamed, by herself if no one else, for refusing to submit to him.

Regina screamed for a different type of pain, jerking against the restraints. She remembered that night perfectly. He'd not prepared her, physically or mentally, and she might have died from the damage he inflicted had he not healed her… at least enough to stop the bleeding, not enough to take the pain from her. "If you touch Emma or Ruby, I will find a way to kill you. And if I can't, I'll make sure you spend eternity in a thousand pieces scattered over the four corners of this realm and any other I access."

Rumpel laughed, but the fierce determination in The Queen's eyes gave him a slight pause. She'd worn that exact same expression the day before she'd cast the curse. His attempts to break her have achieved the opposite.

"What is so special about your little pet to instill such a power in you?" He wondered aloud, almost not having meant to. His eyes darkened with an elated savagery. "Has she surpassed my ability to please you?"

Regina grinned gleefully. He hadn't figured it out, and not even the underlying threat of Emma's pending violation tainted her satisfaction. Her mother had not betrayed her, not even while he held her heart. "She's The Savior," Regina announced happily. The soulless goblin stared, breathing calmly as though she'd not just dropped an incredible obstacle in his path. Slowly, death and destruction sparked in his lifeless eyes, and Regina chuckled silently, knowing she'd forced his hand and sent Emma a message of his plot.

"Then she will be the first to die before she can be made a martyr," he tossed casually, nodding towards the mirror. He knew the second Cora began watching and gave her an indiscreet order. "The Savior will die, and the vault of hearts you have so vigilantly protected shall be used to start a war that will leave this realm in ruins."

Regina gasped. Her guards, all of them trained killers. Her people stood no chance against them without her help. "You slimy bastard, I will ki…" Another scream tore from her throat as he pulsed magical electricity into her body with barely a flick of his wrist.

"You'll do nothing," he whispered harshly, spit flying from his lips. "You brought us to this place. You took me from power. You took my son. I've watched Bae grow into an old man in the 30 years it took you to find someone to make you happy. He's dead, and now, you are going to give me what I want." He raised his hand, meaning to strike her, stopped at the last second, and sent a puff of magic over her cheek, caressing her with the tenderness of a devoted lover. She swallowed bile.

"Together, we'll start a whole new kingdom, Regina, rebuilt in our image."


	54. Chip N' Dale

Here ye be, My lovelies. Thank you so much to those who continuously review each chapter, especially those who have been with me since the first story. Your continued support is awe-inspiring to me and has been an unbelievable healing balm this past year. It is for you that I so diligently post. I should give as good as I get.

Also, finally back to my normal posting schedule. YAY! Enjoy!

Songs: Bad Reputation by Joan Jett, Rather Be by Clean Bandit (for the softer moments), Shake it Off by Taylor Swift (Because… haters)

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><p>"Something's wrong with Regina," Emma whispered across the counter, glancing over her shoulder where Regina clicked towards the bathroom towards the back of Granny's diner.<p>

"That is a broad ass statement," Ruby sniped, clearly frustrated with whatever she attempted to do on the back counter. The blue work shirt she'd begun wearing since Belle's release hung loosely on her shoulders, her already thin body losing mass from the ordeal with the venom and being impaled with an arrow.

She smacked the coffee pot, sending grounds flying everywhere. Emma winced, leaning backwards and covering her head, too surprised to do or say anything. She held the pose almost comically as Ruby leaned heavily on the counter. Emma opened her mouth to speak, but Ruby growled and grabbed a dirty plate from the back counter that she'd cleared earlier and slammed it on the floor. She drew back her fist intent on punching the fountain soda machine.

Granny yelled from the food window, "Don't even think about it, you damn fool wolf." Ruby slammed the side of her fist into the counter hard enough to rattle everything and took a deep breath.

"What the hell has gotten into you, girl?" Granny sniped, waving a metal spatula in a threatening manner. It was enough to worry Emma it might get chucked at her head.

"Nothing, Granny, I'm fine," Ruby muttered, knowing her grandmother's wolf ears heard every syllable. A glance around the diner told her that every person blatantly stared, food perched halfway inside their mouths. She rolled her eyes.

"I know it hurt to let her go, Ruby Lucas, but you're doing the right thing. She is right across the street and head over heels for you. Now calm yourself before I switch you," the elder Lucas groused, scowling with a sassy hand plopped onto her hip. Emma snickered and then held her hands up in placation when Ruby shot her a death glare.

"When did you talk to Regina about the library?" She asked, pushing the conversation into a safer vein than a Lucas-women squabble.

"Last night. I called around 8 and then came over and got the key. Why?" Ruby answered and ran a hand through her silky brown and red hair. "Belle was so excited that she slept over there last night." Ruby crossed her arms and cocked her hip to the side. She'd not slept well at all, despite Regina's guards posted all over the library.

"I'm sure she's fine, Ruby," Emma offered, glancing towards Granny for the supportive nod she expected. "Knowing Belle, she probably read half the library last night and passed out in such a sublime state that she hasn't come back to reality yet." The door bell jangled, indicating the arrival of more customers.

"For fuck's sake," the wolf exclaimed, threw her hands in the air, and then winced, grabbing her shoulder. "One day, my joints won't hurt," she sniped like an old woman, turning quickly to hide the tears in her eyes. "Fucking chimera venom."

"How bad is it, still?" Emma asked, wincing at the loud popping sound that came from Ruby's neck. Feeling useless probably hurt more than the physical pain.

"I'm stronger today, but my energy levels suck. I've been taking five minute naps every hour or so since five this morning," she explained, leaning on the back counter again. "I think it's helping."

"Well, that's good," The Savior encouraged optimistically. "Just a few more days until you're back to normal, then?"

"I'm helpless, Emma. How do normal people keep people safe? I mean, I'm literally fucking useless," Ruby exclaimed, beyond caring who heard her.

Emma glared at the gawking customers as she rounded the counter quickly and wrapped her arms around her friend. They knew nothing of what Ruby sacrificed, what they all sacrificed just to keep each other alive the past few weeks. "Hey, it's okay to be afraid for her," she whispered in a low, soothing tone meant only for Ruby's ears. "You're right, Rubes. She can't heal here, she needs her own life."

"I can't keep her safe if I can't be near her," Ruby whispered right back, turning her head slightly to position her lips closer to Emma's ear, making the conversation private once more.

"Hey, know what will make you feel better?" Emma said suddenly, a mischievous grin on her cheeks. Ruby huffed a sigh and cocked her hip, skeptical. "Oh come on, let me try. Where is your sound system?" Ruby pointed on thin finger towards the end of the back counter, and Emma scurried over to it, more excitable by the second.

Ruby's snort turned into a full-belly laugh when the familiar, over-played beat came across the speakers from Emma's phone. Emma whipped about, already slipping into silly mode. She shook her hips, mouth opened wide as if surprised by her ability to do so.

"Come on, Rubes," she encouraged, grabbing the wolf by her slim waist and twisting it gently just in case Ruby's stomach still ached from the arrow. "But I keep cruisin.' Can't stop, won't stop moving. It's like I got this music in my mind saying it's gonna be alright."

Ruby laughed out right and jumped up and down like an idiot. Granny propped an elbow on the edge of the window, shaking her head, but a smile tugged at her lips. Ruby spun Emma under arm and ducked to follow the move, taller than The Savior. They bumped hips like two teenyboppers, giggling the whole time.

They yelled the chorus together, not even registering the odd stares coming from Ruby's ever-confused patrons. "Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play. And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate. Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake. Shake it off! Shake it off!" They laughed hysterically, too ecstatic to continue singing.

"Well, well, I leave for two minutes and my whore becomes my sister's," Regina's mocking tone called from directly behind them. Emma whipped so fast she nearly knocked Ruby off balance. Regina had gone out of her way to make sure Emma hadn't felt like a whore, why call her one now, especially after yesterday? Regina acted like someone took her heart and controlled her words, but Emma knew that to be impossible. She protected her heart against that very scenario.

"What the hell is your problem? You've been fucking weird since last night," Emma demanded, retrieving her phone because no way was this moment salvageable. Apparently, public spectacles was the special for the day.

Regina responded by flinging her hand towards the two women. Ruby flew into counter, bracing her forearms over her face to protect herself from getting knocked silly. Coffee cups and napkins flew to the floor, shattering and fluttering in the quiet stillness of the diner. The wolf landed atop them, bringing reality from its slow motion replay setting.

"Regina, what the fuck?" Emma yelled, kneeling to offer the wolf a hand up. They only locked gazes, though, as Emma froze halfway to the floor.

Magic wrapped around her neck and jerked her over the counter. Sugar cylinders and salt and pepper shakers broke on the linoleum. Emma landed atop them, slipping on the tiny granules, broken glass cutting into her palms. Salt burned her wounds and eyes. With a flick of her hand and nod of her chin, Emma flew out the door of the diner, very thankful for her leather jacket as she rolled down the side walk and into the road.

Cora in Regina's skin followed at a hurried pace, wanting to end this as quickly as possible. Rumpel wanted it public and brutal and now. Emma called for her magic, too dazed to stand, but without Regina's tenderness, it felt so far away, so weak and small. Cora waved her hand, lifting her into the air and bringing her down on the hood of a car parked in front of the diner.

"Hey!" Ruby yelled, sprinting towards the unhinged sorceress. Cora raised two fingers, taking Ruby airborne and bringing her down beside Emma on the car. The windshield busted beneath them, but somehow, Emma felt better for having her best friend at her side to endure this with her.

"What the hell is her problem?" Ruby groaned. Cora/Regina raised her hand again, and Ruby fisted Emma's jacket as she rolled on top of her and then off the other side of the car just before a fireball exploded the hood. They landed hard, knocking the air from both of them with Emma on top.

"I told you something was wrong," Emma answered and flopped onto her side, panting beside her friend. She had no clue how they were getting out of this one.

They peeked over the edge of the hood simultaneously, Scooby-Doo style, and dropped back to the ground as one unit, slamming their backs into the fender as another fireball flew at their heads. Emma used the hiding time to pluck shards of glass from her palm and wipe at the salt in her eyes with the neck of her shirt.

"I'm open to ideas, wolf," Emma groused. Her entire body flinched when the car rocked again, heat blowing past their hands and legs beneath the vehicle.

"She's your mistress. How do you usually calm her and is it decent for the public eye?" Ruby sniped back, referencing Regina's voracious sexual appetite. A loud thud inspired their heads to turn inward, catching the other's eyes.

"What the hell was that?" Emma said. Ruby shrugged. Emma peeked around the front bumper and drew back immediately, expecting another fireball. None came so she took a longer glance, nearly keeling over with the sight that awaited her. She slapped the back of her hand on Ruby's shoulder lightly and stood.

Belle stood over Regina's unmoving body with a frying pan still poised above her head, ready to strike again. Emma and Ruby scrambled forward, scared for Regina's safety as much as Belle's. "She's still breathing," the new librarian assured them and dropped the drying pan to the sidewalk.

She reached for Ruby's neck, and the wolf accepted her body eagerly against her own as Emma dropped to her knees. "I came in the back a few minutes ago. You and Emma were speaking, so I waited. I'm sorry," Belle whispered into her shoulder.

"Don't be sorry," Ruby soothed her and pressed a kiss to her temple. "Hey, what the hell?" She released her lover when Emma ripped open Regina's shirt and pulled down her bra.

"It's not here!" She yelled and reached for the other breast, maybe she'd gotten the sides confused.

"Emma, now is not the time, dude," Ruby tried to joke, worried for both her sister and her friend's mental wellbeing.

"That's not The Queen," Horace said in his deep, soothing timbre, surprising everyone but Emma who ignored everything but her own thoughts. "Her commands weren't absolute," he explained.

Emma, however, continued freaking out despite what Horace already deduced. "No, it's not here! I left a hickey right there two days ago. It definitely shouldn't be gone this soon, and I know she didn't heal it. This isn't Regina," Emma explained her eccentric behavior with large hand gestures and a high pitched voice that spoke of her deep fear.

"Graham! Horace!" Emma yelled frantically.

The guards had already appeared at Ruby and Belle's shoulders, but The Savior hadn't bothered looking up. "Tie her up, keep an eye on her. See if you can get Whale to bring some sedatives over. Whatever. I don't care. This has to be Cora. No one else can use magic that efficiently."

Emma froze, blanching immediately. "Oh god, I kissed Cora. Oh for the love of… seriously?" She pushed to her feet, shuddering and gagging, holding herself with locked arms on her knees. "What the hell is _wrong_ with that woman? I need mouthwash… and a blowtorch," Emma babbled, too shaken to think. How long had Cora been masquerading as her lover? The previous night, the second time she'd gone to the kitchen. That had to be it.

She stared at her hands, growing more disturbed by the second. They'd just been all over Cora's body. "And turpentine," Emma whined, dropping her head between her shoulders.

"Wait, Emma, focus. Where is Regina?" Ruby demanded, hugging Belle tighter, as much for her comfort as the shorter woman's. She felt as icky as Emma. Poor woman couldn't have caught a break with a catcher's mitt.

"Cora was in the isolation room. Maybe… I don't know." Emma ran her hands thru her hair and stood. Regina must have switched places there. She knew of no other location better protected or secretive than that. "Ready to run, Wolf?"

"Belle, stay with Graham and Horace, okay?" The librarian nodded and pulled her wolf down for an impassioned kissed with hands on both side of her face. Ruby squeaked in surprise, eyes wide as it ended.

"Just so you know," Belle started as she pulled back, touching her fingers to Ruby's lips now shiny from her gloss. Her eyes moved slowly to Ruby's lips and back to her eyes. "I'm leaving the inn, I'm not leaving you, Ruby Lucas. So you better damn well remember that your wolf is at half strength, and if you do anything stupid, I'll skin your hide for a new coat."

Ruby grinned broadly and kissed her again. "Yes, Ma'am," she said cheekily and took the key card Graham handed her, presumably to the isolation room Emma mentioned.

With a nod to Emma, they both took off towards the hospital, Emma leading. With Ruby's weakened body, the women were more evenly matched. They flew down the stairs once reaching the hospital to the prison beneath, but Ruby stumbled slightly when they blew past it towards the door at the end of the hallway. She swiped the card, waited for the locks to disengage.

Ruby began to question Emma's sanity when they descended so low that her breath came in short gasps from lack of oxygen in the air and exertion from their hike into hell. Two guards stood outside the door at the bottom.

"Open it up," Emma ordered Azalia, recognizing her wild hair immediately. She and the man immediately pulled their swords.

"Okay, that's weird," Emma puffed, skidding to a stop. They should have obeyed her as they obeyed Regina.

"Uh huh," Ruby agreed without stopping. She spun gracefully, slapping the sword from the man's hand with the flat of her leg. It skittered towards Emma, either by accident or on purpose. Emma was grateful in either scenario as she knelt and snatched it up in time to block Azalia's attack from her knees.

Within seconds, Ruby's guy fell to the floor, unconscious. Emma never bothered to ask if he breathed of not. The wolf's thin arms wrapped around Azalia's throat and arm, restraining her body and sword, using the last of her wolf's strength to hold the renegade guard steady. Emma propelled forward and leapt at the woman, bringing her fist down on her jaw in a rattling blow. When she didn't go limp, Emma cold-cocked her again with an elbow strike. Ruby grinned as she let the guard slide to the floor.

"Bet that felt good," she panted, clearly weakened further by the encounter. Her wolf was pretty much used up for the moment.

Emma grinned back, shaking her aching hand. "You really have no idea," she muttered. She'd wanted to do that since the night she caught her and Regina in The Queen's office. Satisfaction fading quickly, she snagged the keys from Azalia's belt. The need for them made her even more nervous. Regina never locked this door with conventional methods, only magic.

Emma sprinted inside, the long and dark corridor familiar to her now, thinking only of her love for the woman she prayed she found inside and in one piece. Her steps screeched to an abrupt halt, and Ruby slammed into her back at the end of the dark hall. "Oh god," she breathed.

"Is that?"

"Astrid," Emma whimpered. A thousand emotions swelled in her chest and exploded. Tears burned her eyes, and she raised them, moving them away from her dead friend and attempting to stave off the tears. They only distracted her in that moment. She grieved after she rescued her queen. "Regina," came the following whisper. Her lover hung limp and unconscious in the magical nexus.

Emma sprinted to the edge of the chasm, still determined to focus on helping Regina instead of her grief. "Regina!" she yelled. The woman moaned, and Emma reached for her magic, remembering how the apple floated towards her, how she'd teleported.

Ruby covered Astrid's face and chest with her blue work shirt, leaving only the thin tank top beneath, and then turned her attention on The Savior. Emma wavered, and she stood behind her, hands on her ribs to steady the shaken woman. One limb at a time, Regina dislodged from the crackling web. Emma closed her eyes, unable to think about dropping her into the abyss below. She thought of Regina's smile, her laugh, her gentle kisses across her chest when she'd commented about how much she loved her body, her tears and fear and anger.

"_You have a beautiful body, Emma."_

"_Please, Emma, everything hurts."_

"_I want you." _

Ruby held her breath and watched with wide, tearful eyes. Astrid was dead. Regina looked horrible with bruises on her face, blood soaked through her clothes. Someone tortured her for hours, it seemed. A harsh gasp echoed off the damp walls when cool flesh bumped Emma's hands. Green eyes flew open, and Regina's already battered body fell to the smooth stone as Emma lost her concentration. "Shit," she cursed and dropped to her knees, Ruby right behind her.

"Regina, baby, open your eyes," Emma pleaded, checking her pulse with shaking fingers, and then laid her head on her chest to listen for breath sounds. "Come on, Baby."

"Em," Regina rasped, the sound barely audible. Emma jerked upright and touched her face tenderly, mindful of the pain she probably caused. Tears dripped shamelessly onto her cheeks, but she never felt them, too relieved to feel anything else.

"Yeah, Baby, that's it. I'm here," Emma reassured the broken woman and pulled her upright to hold her trembling body against her warm chest. "I came for you," she whispered softly.

"You came for me," Regina whined, still slightly questioning if she hallucinated or not. Emma pressed a kiss to her forehead, too over come to speak. Had Regina really thought anything differently?

"I will always come for you, Regina Mills," she vowed, tipping her lover's head back slightly to meet her barely-open, bleary eyes. "Do you hear me?" Emma whispered, her voice wet and rasping with emotion. "I will always come for you. I love you."

Regina released a rumbling gasp, something between a sob and a sound of disbelief. "Emma," she whispered reverently, holding tightly to her jacket with clawed fingers. Ruby wiped at her own eyes, never having expected this day to pass. Emma actually fucking did it, she saved Regina's soul.

After a moment of silence to allow each of them to process their individual emotions, a tiny voice rumbled against her collarbone, "Rumpel has their hearts."

"What? Whose hearts?" Ruby jumped in, unable to keep her hands or mouth to herself any longer. She touched Regina's shoulder, her cheek, letting the abused woman know she wasn't alone. Her sister came home, and she intended to keep her, to love her, to never abandon her again.

"Guards," Regina croaked and raised a hand to her head, wincing with the pain speaking and crying inflicted.

"Your guards? Your personal guards?" Ruby demanded, real fear rising. Regina nodded into Emma's chest. Sheer terror surged adrenaline thru the system of wolf and savior, and their eyes met over Regina's head. Everything made sense now, and they'd played directly into Rumpel's hand, leaving everyone they loved vulnerable because they mindlessly trusted that Regina's guards were unshakable in their loyalty.

"Belle," the wolf breathed.

"Call Graham. Mason," Regina stuttered, trying desperately to communicate with her rescuers.

"Graham's heart is somewhere else?" Emma asked. Regina nodded. "What about Horace's?" Regina nodded again. Ruby damn near passed out from relief while Emma sent a quick text with only two words. _Mason. Now._

Emma nodded and pulled Regina to her feet with Ruby's assistance. The Queen cried out in pain, but neither acknowledged it. They needed to move, to go, to act, to save. They both avoided glancing towards Astrid's body. There wasn't time, and a decision had already been made. Emma vowed to come back for her when this ended. They reached the top of the stairs, squinting into the sunlight, ignoring the odd stares from those milling about in the hospital. Wolf and Savior locked eyes again.

"Go, Ruby. We've got to go get Mason."


	55. Purification

Thank you, My Lovelies, for the reviews and follows! We are nearing the end. I'm estimating 4-6 more chapters, depending on how long I take with a couple of plot points. And, if you are super sweet and responsive to this one, you may get a double post today as I am trying to be finished by Saturday or Sunday. I only encourage one for each chapter because I reread them along side the story after I've completed to critique myself with your suggestions, see what's working and what isn't, etc.

Anyway, enjoy, my doves!

Songs: Hero by Mariah Carey (Regina), Tourniquet by Evanescence

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><p>"Graham!" Emma yelled as she opened the front door to the mansion, kicking it out of the way the second the latch clicked. Regina clung to her tightly, practically allowing herself to be dragged by the stout arm around her waist.<p>

"Graham!" Emma yelled again, voice hoarse and commanding. They ascended the stairs into the foyer. The hike wore Regina out, not mentioning her inability to connect with her magic. She felt the phantom pain of its absence throughout her body. She'd never been this long without it before, and the strain of it hurt worse than her physical wounds.

"Emma," Graham called from the living room a moment before he appeared in the foyer. He scooped Regina into his arms and carried her into the living room, setting her gently on the sofa beside Mason.

"The house was clear. I found Mason in the stables. Colin has fallen," he explained and then turned the boy bodily to keep him from seeing too much of Regina's injuries. Mason's guard fell victim to The Dark One and Graham's sword, no doubt.

"Emma, get this off me," Regina demanded, raising her wrist. The desperation in her voice etched the task as a first priority. Regina needed her magic like an addicted needed a fix, except this was a naturally occurring phenomena in the sorceress' body. Lack of magic to Regina felt like a lack of oxygen to everyone else. Emma nodded and sat on the coffee table in front of her lover.

"Graham, I need Mason to watch this," Emma said softly. Graham turned the boy to face them, knowing that he needed to understand magic before this battle occurred.

"Regina, how do I do this?" Emma asked for guidance, holding her lover's wrist in her cupped hand like a precious gem. To Emma, it was. Her love for Regina transcended realms, capable of loving any version of her the universe tossed at her. She caught them all willingly.

"Focus on the bracelet, pull on your magic, and imagine it in your hand. Stay completely focused, Miss Swan. I have no desire to have a piece of leather protruding from my breast because you cannot control your thoughts," Regina sassed, unknowingly giving her magic fuel. Now she thought about Regina's tits…

"Damn it," she muttered. Shaking head and shoulders, she released a stuttered breath and refocused her attention, pulling gently on the swell of magic tingling around her heart.

Sucking another deep breath and holding it, Emma followed instructions.

Regina hissed as the band disappeared from her wrist, releasing a flood of magic into her system, a warm and soothing, comforting balm… the embrace of an old friend. She sank into the instant relief, allowing a moment for it to was away the ache and pain of separation. The power soothed her, but she'd been born with natural blood magic. She needed to feel its power, it's presence. Without her, her body struggled to function properly and might have eventually killed her.

Ignoring her own wounds and Mason's small sounds of disbelief, Regina leaned forward and took one of Emma's palms between both of her hands. She examined the cuts and bruises made by the glass all over the diner and the fight with her mother and guards. She healed first one and then the other. Emma enjoyed the moment while it lasted. It might have been the last tender exchange they ever experienced if Rumpel got his way. Regina put her first.

"Thank you," Emma whispered and tucked a strand of black hair behind Regina's ear. Regina nodded and began the laborious process of healing herself.

"Graham, I need water and protein. Eggs, any type of meat available in the kitchen," Regina ordered, already recovering with her magic accessible. "Please," she added, surprising everyone. Graham smiled and nodded, feeling intuitively that Regina asked rather than ordered with that one simple word.

"You okay, Kid?" Emma asked as the other two got Regina back on her feet.

"Magic is real," he said as though it explained everything.

"Yeah, it is. Storybrooke is full of people from fairytales. Regina was The Evil Queen. Snow White and Prince Charming are your grandparents. Belle and Ruby are Beauty and the Beast, though it's debatable which is which sometimes," Emma quipped, hoping to ease the knowledge into her son's brain.

"This is…" a mischievous grin spread on his cheeks, "totally awesome."

Emma recoiled from the easy acceptance. Though, Henry possessed the heart of the truest believer in magic, which stood to reason that Mason also held such a belief. She smiled at her son and squeezed his shoulder. "You're pretty damn awesome yourself, Kid, you know that?" His grin stretched into a smile and then dropped into a deep frown when a pained hiss came from his adoptive mother.

Regina moaned as the gash on her chest came together. Emma glanced between her and their son. "You're fine, then?" Mason nodded. Emma returned it and then sat on the sofa beside her lover, cupping the back of her neck with a warm and loving hand.

Regina met her eyes, clearly grateful for the silent support. With each moment, the shock of the ordeal faded and an hysterical energy built. She survived, and now her mind struggled to acclimate those anguished hours into her reality. Emma kissed her shoulder and held her lips there lightly, grounding her. Mason grinned contentedly at them, truly not seeming bothered at all by the existence of magic.

"Ems! Regina!" Ruby's wavering voice called from the open front door, clattering up the stairs noisily.

"Living room!" Emma called back, unwilling to leave Regina's side.

The wolf trouped in with her most loved, Granny on one side and Belle on the other with Horace bringing up the rear carrying an unconscious Cora over his shoulder. A cut on the side of the wolf's head wept a slow trickle of blood, and at some point during the journey, both Belle and Ruby found a sword they now held over their shoulders. The battle had begun. They were a ragtag bunch at best. A wolf at half or less strength, a sorceress worse off, an untrained magic wielder and untrained warrior, a partially trained warrior with the strength of a piss ant, an old woman and a child.

Regina raised her eyebrow at Belle's sword, and the librarian shrugged. "I traveled with Mulan. I learned a few things," she explained nonchalantly, pressing closer to Ruby in the presence of her former tormentor.

"Awesome," Mason squeaked, his voice cracking in his excitement.

"Here, child," Granny cooed, breaking the awkward moment as she presented a to-go box of food and hefted her crossbow with the other hand. "Started it as soon as those two idiots became your rescue party." She jerked her head towards Ruby and Emma. "Roast beef sandwich with swiss and some au jus and horseradish sauce. Should bring your protein and iron levels up quickly."

Regina nodded gratefully and ripped open the foam box, downing the sandwich with Emma-like fervor. Graham appeared with a pitcher of water and a glass, filling it to the brim before sitting both in front of Regina. With no need to obtain food, he settled in behind the group beside Horace, both ever vigilant.

"We need a plan, guys," Ruby needlessly pointed out. "Basically, anyone opposing The Dark One is being slaughtered. We've sent as many as we've seen into the woods to give them a better chance, but it's only a matter of time before even that is unsafe."

"Emma, please confine my mother's power," Regina bade softly, nodded at the bracelet in her hand. Emma nodded without speaking and followed the command as Horace set the woman in the arm chair. The leather attached immediately to the skin of her forearm, prohibiting any magic she may have conjured in her sedated state.

Regina stared hard the unconscious sorceress and shoved another monstrous piece of the sandwich in her mouth, chewing mechanically like all the flavor disappeared the moment she acknowledged her mother's presence. Emma returned to her spot on the sofa between her lover and her son and wrapped an arm around the boy's slightly trembling shoulders.

"I need a moment alone with Mother," she spurted suddenly. "You may stay, Emma," The Queen added and dropped the last quarter of her sandwich into the box. With a shaking hand, she chugged the glass of water while everyone else reluctantly left the room.

"Go with Belle," Emma murmured into her son's ear, and the boy nodded, tucking immediately beneath the librarian's free arm.

"Belle, can I have a sword?" He blurted with the excitement of a puppy tripping over his ears.

"No!" Emma and Regina forbade in a firm, unison. The entire group paused to stare at them for just a moment, shocked by their united parenting front. Regina waved her hand, shooing them off in irritation.

Once alone with Emma and Cora, Regina stood numbly and crossed to the woman who had caused so much pain. How wrong had she been about the torture her mother inflicted? How right? Which was worse? She healed the obvious wound on the back of her head, hoping nothing had been damaged internally. Cora groaned after a moment, still groggy from the sedative Whale had given her.

"Regina," she whispered, a stupid grin on her face.

"Mother, now that I know The Dark One holds you heart, may you speak to me freely?" Regina asked, tears already burning her eyes, blocking her throat.

"What?" Emma blurted from behind her. Cora wasn't Cora this entire time?

"I'll explain later, Darling," Regina murmured without taking her eyes from her mother's. She leaned over the chair, holding her weight on both arms on either side of the hazy woman's head. Emma took the answer at face value, believing Regina fully intended to explain the situation.

"You need to kill me, my little queen," Cora whispered harshly. "He'll come, and any who stand in his path shall be cut down." They both knew it to be true, but that reality remained too painful for Regina to face just yet. She knew she could. She simply needed to regain her strength.

"Mother, who is under his thrall?" Regina demanded, ignoring the previous comment completely. She needed her mother, needed her guidance and love. She wanted to feel her love, just once. Cora shook her head, unable to say specifically.

"I did it all for you," she whispered instead. "You are my weakness, Regina." The Queen bowed her head under the hefty meaning of those words, unable to stop the streak of lightening quick grief that struck her heart.

"He has prevented you from telling me you love me, hasn't he?" Regina laced all of the information together. "Only the rare occasions when it suited his purpose," The Queen deduced. Cora said and indicated nothing but dropped her eyes meaningfully.

"You must kill me," Cora reiterated. "I cannot be trusted. I will betray you."

"I know, Mother." Regina sobbed wetly but almost inaudibly and kissed her mother's cheek. "I don't know what to do, Mommy. I don't understand." Everything hurt. Of the many ways she envisioned her mother's death, by her own hands never made that list in all those years. Even when Cora hung in her web, Regina never intended to kill her.

Cora smiled brightly at her daughter. "Rise up, Regina. Do not be afraid any longer." She tipped her chin towards Emma. "Your savior will guide you when you get lost. I cannot help you, my darling girl, except to say rise up. Be the queen you always imagined for yourself. Lead your people to victory against The Dark One, against the odds, as you've always lived."

"Mommy," Regina sobbed.

"You are my weakness, Regina, and you would have been enough," Cora whispered so low that Emma nearly lost the words beneath Regina's soft gasps and sniffles.

"I love you, Mother," she said and kissed Cora's cheek once more.

"Wait, there has to be another way," Emma interjected before she watched Regina kill the woman of her six-decade obsession.

"There isn't," Regina spat over her shoulder, barely turning her head. "Rumpelstiltskin controls her heart, Emma. He's controlled her since my birth." She cupped her mother's face tenderly. "Death is a kindness," she explained. Cora nodded, blinking tears onto her cheeks. Regina wiped them with her thumbs.

"I'll find my strength, Mother. I will destroy him," she promised. Cora smiled one last time.

"You would have been enough," she repeated, unable to tell Regina the words she so desperately longed to for some many years.

"I love you, too, Mommy," Regina responded, understanding.

Finally, she understood. With a wave of her hand, The bracelet appeared in Regina's quivering fingers. Clarity often brought pain, and Regina felt a flood of it when she spun violently from her mother and fell into Emma's arms. The Savior caught her, confused until one arm wrapped around her neck like a boa constrictor after its next meal and the other twisted in the air at the wrist. She watched Cora's neck twist at an unnatural angle, just like the man who attacked Ruby.

Bile rose in her throat, and her arms tightened around Regina's waist involuntarily, seeking her own comfort. The Queen sobbed into her neck, grabbing at her back like a life preserver. Cora stared up at her, unseeing, lifeless. She dropped her face to Regina's shoulder, eyes shut tightly, and sucked deep breaths as the world wavered around her. Regina needed her strength in that moment, leaving no space within her mind for the shock of what Regina had just done. They remained still but the tiny gasps of tears and grief that passed between them. Where Regina found the strength to release her mother from Rumpelstiltskin's hold Emma would probably never know.

Abruptly, Regina pulled away and wiped at her face irritably. "We must go. I have a war to stop," The Queen decreed regally, beautiful with her wet cheeks and red-rimmed eyes. The brown popped more around her pupils, her features more human and less tortured than Emma had ever seen them.

They turned as one and met their group in the foyer. Every, except maybe Mason, understood exactly what transpired in the few minutes since they'd left. Ruby opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Emma slipped her hand into Regina's, showing silent support. Belle stepped forward, of all of them.

"Hold dear to your parents for it is a scary and confusing world without them," she quoted quietly. A quick glance around told her that no one knew what she spoke of, possibly even what she'd said. "Emily Dickinson," she explained.

"A wise woman," Regina accepted the quote graciously. She felt lost and confused and scared, but her responsibility came before that. Her mother told her to be the queen she'd always desired, and Regina intended to do just that if it killed her. "Thank you, Miss French."

Belle nodded and leaned into Ruby, done with sharing and bonding for the moment. No matter how horrible Regina behaved towards her in the past, Belle's humanity always won in the end. Someone else's action could not take that from her, it's who she was, who she wanted to be. Somehow, that person pulled them thru perhaps the most poignant moment of the tortured queen's life. It was a proud moment for her, and it seemed as though everyone else appreciated it, too.

Regina snapped her fingers, producing two pewter boxes. She held one to Graham and the other to Horace. If they died, it should be with their hearts in their chests. They took them hesitantly. Regina stepped to Graham first and touched his face tenderly, taking a moment to simply stare at and appreciate the human being who had acted as her sole companion and confidante for so many year. Even though he had no choice, The Queen still chose him every single time. He became more than a guard and a toy over the years, she just failed to notice until then.

"There are two options to you. As much as I've wronged you, I do hope you'll stay at my side rather than join The Dark One in his pointless quest for power," she stated sadly, unsure if their fates had been decided. With trembling fingers, she returned Graham's heart to his chest. He gasped, overcome with emotions and the heady surge of freewill, choice. She repeated the process with Horace before anyone responded to what she'd just done.

Horace bowed his head respectfully, his reaction much less dramatic. "To the end, My Queen," he offered his loyalty graciously in his deliciously deep rumble and placed a fist over his heart. Of the two evils, Regina definitely earned his loyalty in the past few months, despite the trials and suffering she'd inflicted in the past. The Queen was a changed woman. Graham nodded, confirming the sentiment, at least until Rumpelstiltskin fell at their feet in ruins.

Regina nodded, accepting their pledges and then turned on the toe of her pump. As she stalked towards the door, she snapped her fingers, barely missing a width of a stride as her riding leather appeared, boots tapping dully where stilettos clacked only a moment before. Everyone followed.

Before they caught up, she waved her hand, producing three bodies on her posh walkway. Snow and Charming squinted at the bright light and shielded their eyes. Robin covered his as well but adjusted much more quickly. Everyone waited, confused. Emma slipped her hand in Regina's again, much to the surprise and dismay of her parents.

"Robin, you must rally the people behind you and Ruby. Rumpel has declared war upon any who oppose him with the promise of death. He intends to slaughter us all. Please take Miss French and Mason and those two idiots to the relative safety of your camps to await our arrival," Regina commanded, leaving no room for argument.

"Why should I trust anything you say?" The obstinate bandit demanded, crossing his arms over his chest defiantly. Regina rolled her eyes and ignored him, turning instead to her sister.

"Ruby, you must prepare them. The presence of their insipid princess should inspire their faith and confidence," Regina instructed. Ruby nodded, tipping her chin proudly.

"Graham, Horace, go to the convent and ensure the safety of those within if they have not departed for the forest yet. Gather as many supplies as you can and take them to the caves in the North woods." The two nodded and executed their orders immediately, their training automatic even with their hearts.

"What are you going to do, Regina?" The wolf asked, concerned that she'd not be joining them.

Regina grinned wickedly. "Emma and I are going to distract them from the woods and give The Dark One a gushing wound to lick. Go now."

Ruby nodded and headed out with her new charges and Robin, the mouthpiece. He narrowed his eyes darkly at The Queen before moving. "As you wish, Your Majesty," he conceded reluctantly and followed the wolf.

Emma squeezed Regina's hand and offered a sad smile in support. Regina returned it and then glanced back to the mansion. "Come," she requested quietly and returned to the house. Emma followed, silent and confused. With a snap of Regina's fingers, Astrid's body appeared on the floor of the living room, Ruby's blue shirt still covering her frozen features.

"Hold out your hand," she instructed, demonstrating with one trembling limb stretched out before her. Emma followed her lead while Regina twined the fingers of her other hand in her pet's. "Close your eyes and feel for the natural energy that surrounds us at all times, the particles of the air, the potency of the earth. Do you feel it?"

"I think so," Emma answered honestly, not quite sure what it meant to feel the earth's potency.

"Find the magic within, Emma. Find your trigger. I experience instant rage when I think of Rumpelstiltskin's laugh. It may be small or large. Find what triggers your love, Savior," she taught as best she knew how. She'd never instructed one in the ways of magic before, and Rumpel's method took far too long for what they required in such a short amount of time.

That intoxicating tingle lapped at Regina's palm where it connected to Emma, and she knew her lover found a suitable trigger. "Think of fire, of heat, and send that will into the world using the elements of the air."

Again, Emma listened, understanding immediately what Regina intended. Heat exploded from their hands at the same time, creating flames within the house that no one short of a magic wielder stood a chance of extinguishing. They returned to the walkway, closing the door behind them.

The scent of smoke tickled Ruby's sensitive nose, and the wolf glanced back in time from a distance to see a flash of violet smoke as flames engulfed the elegant mansion.


	56. Distractions

Holy terror, if you guys are half as emotionally exhausted as I am by this story, I know this will make you feel better! Some female badassery and levity before the final push. This is a thick chapter, so read carefully!

Thanks again for the reviews and follows. Enjoy, My Lovelies!

Song: This is War by 30 Seconds to Mars

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><p>"Regina, what exactly is the plan," Emma asked as they materialized outside Throne Hall. Guards jerked to attention, bows and swords pointed in their direction. Emma squeezed The Queen's hand tighter.<p>

"Destroy strongholds," Regina supplied in a quiet but confident voice.

She raised both of her hands, and Emma watched in awe as the arrows flying towards them switched directions and imbedded into necks and chests of those who used to serve her. Regina wavered slightly, still weak from lack of sleep and her night of torture, and spread her stance wider, black leather stretching and creaking soothingly. Closing her eyes, she focused her rage towards the building and sent a stream of fire into the brick and wood.

Shrieks of pain surrounded them. Guards rushed from the building. Emma reached for her magic, using the trigger of Regina's beautiful smile she'd given her only once during sex. The moment Emma knew she'd begun changing for the better, really changing in her soul and not just her actions. A pulse exploded from her hands. Men and woman, swords and bows scattered, pieces of paper in her powerful wind.

"Good, Emma," Regina encouraged, suddenly at her side but facing the opposite direction. Apparently, an attack came from behind as well. Emma trusted Regina to keep her safe.

The stench of smoke and burning flesh blanketed the air, gagging them, reminding them. Another purification of Regina's life, the destruction of this building stood for far more than the strategic attack against certain strongholds and outposts. Regina destroyed her old life, killing The Evil Queen, making way for Regina Mills. The heat of Regina's fireballs singed the back of her neck, and Emma sank into the comfort of it.

On one side gentle pulses of white energy smacked into the onslaught of guards. On the other, a magnitude of flames. Two opposing powers worked as one, towards the same end. They brought it all down, and the chills of that fact struck Emma to her core. She wanted to destroy it all as much as Regina. She wanted her family. She wanted Henry and the world she'd left behind, and the complete annihilation of this one felt like taking one step closer to that world, even though she'd never leave this one, not without Regina.

A sudden movement caught the corner of her eye, and Emma met it instinctively. Spinning off Regina's back, she blocked the sword as it descended toward her queen. A swift kick to the man's groin followed. She grabbed his head in both hands, happy for the lack of helmet and smashed his face into her knee. The sword came free in her hand as his grip weakened.

"Emma!" Regina copied her move, agile and sleek in her leathers, and snapped the neck of another guard who came close enough to strike them physically while knocking his arm to the side.

"Time to move," Emma suggested.

"Follow me," Regina instructed, turning towards the main street that lead towards Granny's diner and the library, beyond that Gold's shop. Emma grinned wickedly, falling into step beside the surprisingly swift queen.

A fierce determination settled into Regina's features, and Emma forced her own focus to the world in front of them. The sword slowed her slightly, but her superior physicality allowed her to maintain pace with the older woman. Adrenaline pounded in her ears. This really happened, and she'd never felt more liberated than while sprinting through Storybrooke while Regina exploded buildings. Supply buildings, Emma realized: the grocery store, the hardware store, apartment buildings for sleeping quarters.

She understood now. Regina wounded the army, not the sorcerer. The town appeared virtually abandoned, eerily desolate. Another body sprinted towards them, and Emma's step stuttered for one second, allowing Regina a stride ahead. Spinning on one foot, the blade of her claimed sword sliced thru the body armor and into the supple flesh beneath.

"Emma?" Regina called without glancing back, pulsing energy into the troupe of soldiers approaching her.

"I'm good!" She called, sprinting to her queen. Regina grabbed her hand as she skidded to a stop beside her.

"Help me," Regina said quietly. Emma nodded, all too weary of the growing number of bodies surrounding them. Her guards knew how to set a decent trap, she gave them that. "Release your fire, but don't control it's direction," she instructed.

Emma reached for her magic, but it refused to come. Fear and adrenaline and the sickening reality of the lives they took that day blocked the flow of something triggered by the strength of love. The soldiers possessed no hearts, no free will.

"Regina, it's not working!" She screamed, uncaring if the soldiers heard her panic. If push came to shove, she knew Regina would have poofed them to safety.

"Oh, for fuck's sake," Regina exclaimed in irritation, shocking the hell out of any within earshot of the uncharacteristic phrase falling from the queen's ruby red lips. She fisted the collar of Emma's hideous maroon jacket in clawed fingers and slammed her mouth against The Savior's. A pulse of shimmering white magic exploded into the ring of fire already circling them. Screams and the scent of charred flesh destroyed the impassioned kiss.

Green eyes stared into equally shocked and wide caramel. Two chests heaved as they absorbed the moment, the power of their combined magic, the heady sensations of battle adrenaline. Emma grabbed the side of Regina's neck, too high to care about anything else but gazing into those beautiful eyes.

"We must move," Regina urged without any real conviction or moving away from the panting savior.

"What's the plan? Are we just destroying shit for the hell of it?" She asked with a smirk. Burn it all. The feral whisper inside her mind scared her, reminded her of how closely The Savior danced to the darkness. She always had. She'd fallen in love with it, dark hair and beautiful dark eyes.

Regina returned her smirk. "Subtly was never my strong suit, dear." Emma smashed their mouths together again, unable to process their reality. The entire day felt surreal, and Emma anchored herself to Regina, the only thing that made sense.

"The water plant," Regina whispered against her lips, eyes refusing to open. "The electrical grid. We'd leave them virtually without resources," she finally formulated an actual plan besides razing the town.

"Are we poofing or running?" Emma clarified, as equally unwilling to relinquish the feel of the other woman's lips. Her entire body tingled with endorphins and ached with want of her. Given Regina's shallow breaths and glazed stare, The Queen returned the desire.

"There is a store of potions and magical supplies beneath Rumpelstiltskin's shop," she explained and nodded her head towards the barely visibly sign down the street. "I'd like to even the odds," she dripped maliciously, and Emma swallowed as a zing of adrenaline tore through her.

"I'm with you," she pledged.

Regina nodded and then took off once more, jumping and dodging bodies. Emma scrambled to keep pace, surprised by the sudden momentum. Ignoring the blackened bodies surrounding them, Emma stumbled after her queen. They were merely obstacles, not former human beings. They couldn't be, not yet, not until this battle ended for good. Right now, she followed Regina's lead, her strength. She'd forever chase Regina Mills, to the ends of every single realm and timeline.

Before they stuttered to a stop in front of Gold's shop, Regina already blasted away at the structure with magic wrecking balls, taking bites from the roof and corners. Emma added her own, sending a pulse directly thru the store. Bits and pieces of antiques and personal items unclaimed skittered across the pavement. Where was the evil bastard anyway? If this hadn't called his attention, nothing would have worked.

Regina seemed not to care either way as she pointed two fingers towards the ground and twirled them slowly, ripping planks from the floor. She dropped the gesture suddenly, and the tornado of debris dropped into the cellar below, crashing and shattering. Regina closed her eyes, presumably focusing on the rage that fueled her powers.

Emma resisted the urge to wipe the sweat beading at a dark temple. Suddenly, brown eyes flew open and a pulse of magic flew from her palms. The vibration and back blast blew both of them flat on the ground. Whatever Regina used as a trigger spiked her rage levels off the monitor. She chuckled gleefully, clearly enjoying the result of her endeavor.

"Well, well, dearie, I never thought you'd find your way into town without mommy and your puppets," a slimy, wrathful voice taunted The Queen from behind them.

Rather than engage, Regina rolled on top of Emma and disappeared in a puff of violet smoke. She wasn't strong enough to defeat The Dark One, not until they found his dagger. Until then, they only needed to keep them away from the civilians in the forest, give them a chance to find safety in the deep caves that lined the outer edge of the forest as far from town as possible. Materializing outside the water tanks and pumps, Regina leaned over and found Emma's mouth once more.

"Regina, we don't…" Emma started.

"Have time for this," The Queen finished, pulling Emma upright with persistent, unrelenting hands on the collar of her jacket. Between the acute emotional upheaval, the adrenaline endorphins, and the intensity of their magic when it combined, Regina figured she barely needed touched. Not by Emma, anyway. Emma always brought her to climax so quickly.

"Regina, later," Emma yelled and whipped them to the side, narrowly avoiding the arrow loosed a second too late to find its target in The Queen's back. As one, they reached their hands towards the perpetrator without identifying the person, sending flames of vengeance into the world. The woman screamed in pain, flesh flaking and melting.

"Azalia," Regina whispered, another favorite. She transformed her fire into simple energy and snapped the guard's neck, ending her misery instantly. Regina closed her eyes and slowly averted her gaze before blinking away the tears of rage and grief welling there. Emma's thundering pulse visible in her neck told Regina that she felt it, too.

"Come on," Emma nudged her forward, moving past the grief before it consumed her lover. Regina nodded and allowed Emma to pull her to her feet.

Repeating her intense concentration, Regina exploded the water tank supplying the town. Liquid rained down on them and a flood gushed from the huge container well. Emma snaked her arms about Regina's waist as the fast-moving water took their feet out from under them. Regina poofed them to safety, but they still slid across the gravels, scratching and scraping their leather. Emma spit water out, laughing because she couldn't cry.

"Let's not stand so close to the transformer, huh?" Emma suggested and climbed to her feet once more, stretching her back and shoulders from the rough landing.

"I concur, Darling." Regina stalked towards the hill, climbing it instead of depleting more of her magic resources.

"There is likely a chance we'll die tomorrow. No one has ever defeated The Dark One," Regina stated as they topped the hill and looked down on the power plant. Her words in meaning sounded solemn and reflective, but a deeper, sharper edge touched her tone.

Emma leaned against a tree and studied her lover. "I need you, Regina," she answered, a hidden edge of her own. "Please," she added and dropped her sword in case Regina failed to understand. Her words echoed those Regina uttered so many times after nightmares, during grief, to find clarity… to feel something real and beautiful.

Lips fell upon hers in a second. Two sets of violently trembling hands set upon the snaps and buttons of their own pants, trading immediately for the other woman's when denim and leather slid over hips. It wasn't the need for physical release that sent their hands diving into slick, clenching walls. They needed to feel something real, something tangible. They stood at the edge of the apocalypse, and nothing but raw passion for their lover held their minds together.

"Regina," Emma moaned as she brought the other woman's neck to her mouth aggressively. They were beyond fear, beyond reservations, beyond the fickle idea that the other hadn't completely marked her soul forever.

"Emma," Regina breathed against the pain of teeth sinking into her neck. Slippery walls clenched around her fingers painfully, and the hint of danger of their current location and situation combined with the power she held over the woman scratching against the rough bark jerked Regina along with her lover. She collapsed into Emma's chest, already feeling the muscles in her neck bunch and coil from the bruise forming.

"I killed Mother," Regina whispered into blonde hair. Grief dulled her tone to something akin to numb. Emma tightened her free arm around her back, comforting her without words. No words made this any better, none of it. Just this, just them. This was what they fought for because nothing else made sense, nothing else seemed to matter. This became the war of their love because Emma's arrival sparked the fuse to this bomb, toppled the first domino.

"We must go," followed the gut-churning confession. Regina pushed off her shoulders and wrangled her fingers free from Emma's suckling muscles, wishing more than anything to take Emma over that edge again and again until something made sense. Instead, she drew her magic close to her, savoring it for just a moment before sending it crashing into the power transformer.

She clasped her pants and watched the cascading sparks bounce and skitter across the ground. Emma stepped beside her, copying her motions, and Regina touched her wrist gingerly… or rather the leather burned into its flesh. Emma's brow furrowed in confusion.

"I cannot undo the magic imbedded in this bracelet, and the caves stretch beyond your limited range of movement," Regina explained, tears blurring her vision. She closed her eyes and brushed her fingers across the band. "Emma Swan, I release you," she breathed shakily.

Emma gasped as the band detached from her flesh, leaving only a thin red mark where it should have been. "I thought the only way to release me was by death," she blurted, unable to grasp the magnitude of this act.

"That was a clause written in the bylaws of my kingdom," Regina clarified sadly. "My kingdom lies in ruins, and I do not wish the same fate for you because I have left you unprotected. You're free, Emma," The Queen rasped. Her chin quivered with the reality of this last loss of the day, one she might have survived before Emma forced her to feel her own humanity.

Emma stared at her in disbelief for several shallow breaths. Nothing held her here physically anymore. If she wanted, she might have run, escaped the war with Mason. The Savior slapped both hands on Regina's cheek and brought their mouths together roughly, passionately, desperately. Hands grabbed at her waist, her hips, her back, holding tight to what Regina just released.

"Why did you pick me, Regina? You could have had anyone, made anyone belong to you. Why me?" Emma asked the burning question on the tip of her tongue since making the deal with Regina.

"You called me Regina," The Queen answered, allowing the honesty to shine in her eyes. "In the three decades of the curse, I'd not heard my name uttered once. You reminded me that day, Emma, - of who I was, who I wanted to be, why I cast the curse. I was more than a title in that moment, I was a person. You made me feel human with only the use of my name," Regina explained. Red grew slowly around her soulful brown eyes, evidence of her valiant struggle against the tears.

"I love you," Emma reiterated against her lover's still quivering lips. "I'm still yours, Regina Mills, even if The Queen has no claim to me anymore."

Tears spilled onto Regina's flushed cheeks, not having expected the genuine reaction and words from the woman who had revived her heart. "And you will always be favored by both, Emma Swan," she promised and pressed her forehead to Emma's. Neither moved for an extended moment, basking in the warmth and comfort and normalcy of the embrace.

Finally, Emma knelt and retrieved her sword, barely touching Regina's hand before they came undone in a swirl of magic, their goal accomplished. That should have kept Rumpel sufficiently busy for a while. Without Cora and without an army, his power only stretched so far, and he'd weakened himself by staying awake all night to torture her. Not to mention, wrangling control of a heart from someone else's possession require a lot of magic. There were probably guards out there who had to be affected by it but not for long.

Several swords pointed in their direction while they materialized. Regina sneered at them, clearly restraining herself from blasting those holding the weapons with magic. One by one, they dropped. Ruby shoved some of Robin's men out of the way in irritation, hip cocked in sassy defiance.

"What the hell did you do?" She demanded, crossing her arms over her chest. "We heard the explosions all the way out here.

"It remains intact for the moment," Regina assured her, meaning the diner. She touched Ruby's cheek tenderly, and the wolf swatted her away like one might have danced after walking into a spider web. Emma snickered, enjoying the sisterly exchange for exactly what it was. It offered the first ray of hope she'd seen since rescuing Regina that morning. Had it only been that morning?

"Emma." Regina took her hand and raised an eyebrow at Ruby's gaping mouth as her eyes fell onto the bite mark on her neck. "Come, Puppy, we must strategize," The Queen ordered the flabbergasted wolf as she breezed past her and into mouth of the cave. Once inside, she enacted a cloaking spell, concealing their location from anyone not already inside.

"Seriously?" Ruby exploded, unable to contain it. "I mean, I figured you guys had great sex, but I didn't think you blew shit up," she barbed her big sister while Regina rolled her eyes and stalked around the corner of the cave.

Snow and Charming looked positively mortified… Mason, too, for that matter. Emma's face burned instantly. Ruby worked her mouth like a fish out of water. Regina, of course, smirked, far too smug for her own good. Belle covered her mouth, quietly shaking with laughter.

"Uhh, it echoes," Snow stuttered, glancing further into the cave towards the hundreds of people seeking shelter there.

"Where is the pine cone whisperer?" Regina snarked. Much more prepared to deal with him than her former step-daughter and the moron rubbing her shoulders comfortingly.

"I presume you mean Robin?" Belle clarified for her own sanity, itching to move, to be useful, to distance herself from the fact that she now sat confined in a dark hole by The Queen's hand once more. Regina nodded, oblivious to Belle's discomfort.

"I'll retrieve him," she offered and scurried off. He'd given her boots and soft brown leather trousers, better preparing her for battle. Her yellow dress hung over them, meshing her two personalities together, and it sort of worked.

"Regina," Snow started but stopped when Regina's eyes seared the flesh of her face from her skull.

"Do not speak to me," she ordered aridly, unconcerned with offending the little brat. She was here to calm those who couldn't fight, rally those who could, and because Emma loved her. The thought surged through her uncomfortably, and she adjusted her shoulders, dissipating the unfamiliar energy of putting another before herself.

The Savior squeezed her hand before bringing it to her mouth for a tender kiss. Their eyes met over laced fingers, and Emma grinned around the back of her hand. Snow ejaculated a sound so high pitched that Ruby grabbed her ears. Regina rolled her eyes, and Emma sighed, dropping the still joined hands to their sides again.

"I know it's a lot to take in, guys, but I need you to deal with this," she stated firmly, deciding to meet the issue head-on.

"Emma, she's…" Snow started again, but Emma shook her head rather than relinquish Regina's hand or drop her sword.

"Not anymore," Ruby supplied the rebuke. Arms crossed in anger, she stepped closer to her sister. Regina had come so far, and not even Snow White threatened that as long as she breathed.

"Enough!" Regina yelled, her voice echoing off the damp rock of the caves. She stalked further into the cave, dropping Emma's hand, standing on her own. "I should rip all of your tongues out and serve them to the orphans," she threatened viciously. It was empty, but Snow and Charming's expressions showed their almost comical skepticism.

Graham wandered into the circle of logs near the entrance of the cave. Regina stopped abruptly until he nodded slightly, granting her permission to continue, to be near him. Nothing got resolved until The Dark One came back under The Queen's control, if she'd ever really had it. He followed her, habitually falling into step behind her until she stopped to wait for the rest of the group to join them.

"Don't trust him," Graham whispered into her ear, lips moving her hair, words barely audible. Her shoulders tightened and eyes narrowed, but other than those subtle clues, she failed to react to the cryptic warning at all. A sign that she took it seriously, very seriously. Graham knew good from bad people better than any she'd ever encountered. He sensed it, almost supernaturally.

"Sit there," she instructed Robin, pointing to a spot directly across from her. "Body odor should never be displayed so proudly," she sniped, covering her anxiety of Graham's warning. She needed Robin's influence and his men. People followed him, for whatever reason.

Emma plopped down to Regina's left, having grown accustomed to the place. Ruby occupied the right. Belle appeared with a foam plate containing a pancake, two eggs, and a pile of bacon. She handed it to Regina who looked up at her with a confused glare as she accepted it and the cheap plastic fork.

"Uhh, the children wanted pancakes," she said as if it explained everything. It hadn't. "G-granny sent that to you to help you regain strength." Still no response. Belle wrung her hands helplessly and continued babbling, "I only put a little sweet nectar on the flour cake. Oh!" She blushed. "I can retrieve more. Ruby says it's best when it gets on everything so you have enough to lick from your fingers," she offered helpfully.

Ruby choked on air. Emma laughed obnoxiously because again crying wasn't an option. Clearly, Belle had not understood Ruby's sexual innuendo. Snow and Charming looked confused. Ruby must have been super worried while they wreaked havoc if they'd failed to notice that Belle and Ruby were in love until then. Where was Peter?

Regina smirked, raising an eyebrow at her sister. "I suppose that's one form of flavored lubricant," she retaliated for Ruby's jabs about her bite mark earlier. Ruby turned the color of her name.

Belle's cheeks followed suit, and she quickly ushered Mason from the discussion, preserving what innocence she could.

"Alright, so what's the plan?" Ruby grouched, turning the attention away from her socially awkward in a totally endearing way girlfriend. No one wanted to start, no one fully processed the reality of their situation yet, which explained the amount of levity floating around them since entering the cave.

Regina offered a piece of bacon to Emma who snapped at it with the enthusiasm of a puppy. Regina took a daintier bite of the abhorrent, salty pork strip and chewed thoughtfully, releasing a deep sigh. She held the plate on her knees with one hand and placed the other on Emma's thigh, seeking her own comfort. She doubted with absolute certainty that no one agreed with or liked what she was about to suggest.

"Without his dagger, the only way to control Rumpelstiltskin is to cast The Dark Curse."


	57. The Sacrifice

Okay, y'all, 2-3 more chapters. This one about killed me. If you don't cry or at least think about it, you probably have no soul and should really look into that. I sobbed like a baby several times. So, hang in here with me just a bit longer.

Thanks for all the reviews and the new followers! Welcome aboard the last few stops of this crazy train. Enjoy!

Songs: Unconditionally by Katy Perry, Send Me a Song by Celtic Woman, A Change in Me as performed by Susan Egan from The Beauty and the Beast Musical.

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><p>"Enough!" Emma yelled for the hundredth time. Hours. They'd been arguing for hours. Dusk creeping along outside proved that. "This is my goddamn life," she cursed, mostly at her parents who were still convinced that Regina only suggested this to kill The Savior. Ruby quarreled with Charming and Regina, claiming she should be the one to die. Robin and Graham mostly watched and grabbed Ruby at one point when she took after Snow White. Belle stood near the entrance to the larger cavern within, holding her arms tightly over her stomach, clearly as uncomfortable and as helpless as The Savior.<p>

"Emma, please, you don't know Regina like we know her," Snow insisted condescendingly. The sharp echo of a slap paralyzed every single tongue involved in this discussion. The princess touched her hot cheek gingerly, staring at her daughter with shocked and watery eyes.

"No, Mom, you don't know her like _I_ do. I did this. I screwed everything up by coming here, and now it's my responsibility to fix it. Trust me when I say that Regina asking me to do this is probably the hardest decision she's ever made in her life. So, just back the fuck off with your black and white morality bullshit. It's old," Emma repeated everything she'd said at least a dozen times now that everyone listened raptly.

"Emma, you're confused," Snow switched tactics. "You bear her mark. You have no choice, but you still have your heart. You don't have to do this."

"Jesus fucking Christ on a pogo stick. You are the thickest dumbass I've ever spoken to," The Savior resorted to childish insults. Nothing else worked, so hey ho, why not? This version of Snow and Charming irritated her, knowing they were her parents only made it worse. Of course, ten years confined in a dark room changed people, she supposed.

"Don't speak to your mother that way, Emma," Charming reprimanded her like a child.

Regina rolled her eyes. "She put her in a box and shipped her to an unknown realm. I believe she's earned the right to speak however she wishes."

"Because of you!" Snow exploded, edging into Regina's personal space.

"Just stop!" Emma yelled, stepping between her mother and her lover. "I've made my decision. Why are we still arguing about this?" Emma presented the question to the room, arms stretched wide.

"Because I just found you," Snow and Regina stated in a firm unison that made both of them blanch comically, eyes wide. Or it would have been funny were the situation different.

"That's what you want," Emma reasoned. "That doesn't make it right. Do you honestly think I want my heart crushed by the woman I'm in love with?"

"This is ridiculous!" Charming interjected. "You can't be in love with Regina. She's brainwashed you, somehow. Confused you," he theorized, looking to his daughter for support.

"I would call multiple screaming orgasms a very efficacious brainwashing technique," Regina spat darkly, enjoying the squirm and wriggle of her former prisoners. The comment burned straight to Emma's core, and tears burned in the back of her eyes. It'd been more than that. _They_ had been more than that, more than fuckbuddies. Even Ruby reacted visibly to the debasing of their intimacy.

"Seriously? Mature, Regina. Really fucking…" Emma started, but her voice got drowned out by her mother's high pitched protest.

"You cannot expect us to believe that Emma submitted to that of her own free will! You're mark controlled her somehow," Snow reasoned.

Emma rubbed her wrist, feeling slightly naked and exposed without the leather she'd grown to love burned into the flesh. Her mother failed to notice that The Queen had released her. It hurt. They cared nothing about her decision. She was a weapon, and they squabbled over the best use for her. Save The Evil Queen. No, save the people. No, leave town with your son until the battle ends so that you can help rebuild after the war.

Emma rolled her eyes as they tore at each others throats. Ruby joined the fray, defending Regina, which just looked weird as fuck to her now that Snow and David stood next to them because Ruby despised Regina in the original timeline. Her loyalty to Snow prevented her from reconciling with her sister. Now, the loyalty to her sister thwarted any type of friendship with the woman she once helped escape the clutches of The Evil Queen.

Emma slipped away from the bickering, trusting Regina not to blow her top and kill someone.

She sucked the cool evening air gratefully, calming her racing heart. Everyone only cared about what they wanted for her, and she'd made her choice. She never belonged here, and her presence destroyed Storybrooke, the kingdom, Regina's authority… and not in a good way, like it had been in the other timeline. She slipped quietly through the forest until arriving at the ravine she'd fallen into, a different spot of course. It was shallow, more of a deep bank than a canyon at that location. This wasn't original to her timeline. She dropped to the ground and dangled her legs over the side.

Slowly, night descended around her. A part of her knew not to wander off alone, but most of her ached for the solitude. Despite her charisma, Emma had grown accustomed to solitude during her life, and the past few hours of pathetic attempts to strategize an untrained army only to circle back to The Dark Curse destroyed any cautionary propriety she might have had.

"Emma," Belle's beautiful accent called.

"Hey Belle," she deadpanned, unable to even be grateful for the usually silent strength the librarian offered. "They even notice I left yet?"

Belle sat beside her in the dirt, placed her sword on the ground at her side, and wrapped the blanket on her back over Emma's shoulders, sharing her heat and pressing them closer together. "Not that I witnessed. I wasn't aware anyone could leave Regina's cloaking spell until you did."

"I couldn't stay there anymore. They're talking about me like I'm not a person, like I don't get the final say in what happens. It's my life, damn it!" Emma clenched fists atop her thighs, grinding her teeth with the effort of controlling her anger.

"I understand what it means to be an object," Belle offered quietly, unused to sharing much of herself. Even Ruby struggled to bust thru her well-barricaded defenses.

Emma turned her bowed head to the side to find the librarian's hands worrying the hem of her now dirty yellow dress. Her big blue eyes stared straight ahead, distancing herself from the horror of the past 30 years. She had been an object, a tool used to torture Rumpelstiltskin, not a person. Ruby helped recovery her humanity slowly. First, by bringing her books in prison, and then by ensuring she had the opportunity to work in a place she loved, had a place to live, a chance to live on her own. She helped Belle be independent, but it hadn't erased the damage, had only begun to repair it. Like Regina's damage.

"Your decision is noble, Emma," she said after the pregnant pause. "They should listen."

Emma snorted and glanced up at the tiny lights commencing their nightly dance in the sky. "This is so screwed up. I'm scared, Belle. I don't want to die," she whispered, unconsciously leaning closer to the smaller woman. Belle surprised her when she wrapped an arm around her waist and leaned her head on Emma's shoulder.

"We are weaned from our timidity / In the flush of love's light / we dare be brave / And suddenly we see / that love costs all we are / and will ever be. / Yet it is only love / which sets us free." Belle quote the way she felt, unable to express it properly.

"What's that from?" Emma asked, leaning her cheek against the crown of her friend's head.

"It's the last verse of a poem called Touched By an Angel by Maya Angelou. I read it often and think of it each time Ruby makes my chest swell with that sweet fear of love. Are you familiar with the feeling?" She asked and glanced up at Emma's blank, stoic face. Slowly, it came to life with a little, knowing smile.

"Yeah," she answered, chin quivering. "Can you recite the whole poem?" She requested quietly and sniffed.

"Of course," Belle beamed proudly. She took a deep breath, gathered her thoughts, and then soothed her shaking friend with the gentle rumble of her accent.

"We, unaccustomed to courage / exiles from delight / live coiled in shells of loneliness / until love leaves its high holy temple / and comes into our sight / to liberate us into life.

"Love arrives / and in its train come ecstasies / old memories of pleasure / ancient histories of pain. / Yet if we are bold, / love strikes away the chains of fear / from our souls.

"We are weaned from our timidity. / In the flush of love's light / we dare be brave / And suddenly we see / that love costs all we are / and will ever be. / Yet it is only love / which sets us free."

Belle fell silent, waiting for Emma's reaction, pretending not to notice the hot drip of tears on her hair. Emma just needed to sit in silence, something she'd mastered even before becoming a prisoner. She was this for Emma, silence, solitude without being alone. Emma sniffed and reached for her other hand, hooking their thumbs together and squeezing tightly, a clasp of sisterhood.

"Yes it is," she murmured against Belle's head. Silence encompassed them once more. Stars blinked and twinkled in the midnight blue abyss above.

"Belle, Emma," Ruby called gently from the tree line.

"What?" Emma sniped, irritated by the intrusion. She raised her tear-streaked face to find both sisters looking at them sheepishly.

Belle glanced over her shoulder, met Ruby's eyes, and nodded. Apparently, they communicated telepathically now because Belle squeezed Emma's hand tightly and grabbed her sword before standing. Leaving the blanket around Emma's shoulders, she tucked beneath Ruby's arm and began the trek back to the cave without another peep.

Regina clasped her hands in front of her hips, unsure what to do. She'd given Emma a difficult decision, and her heart ripped straight in two for the safety of her people and the safety of one woman. Emma smiled up at her sadly and spread the blanket over the ground behind her.

"I'm sorry for my behavior, Emma," she apologized hoarsely, like she fought tears. The Savior shrugged and held out her hand. Had the situation been anywhere close to normal, Regina would have worked good and hard for her forgiveness. Emotions were too high at the moment to hold anything against anyone.

"Will you come watch the stars with me?" Emma asked, afraid of rejection even though she knew Regina agreed before the words left her mouth.

Regina settled beside her, head on her arm and shoulder. It lasted all of ten seconds before The Queen raised onto her elbow and gazed down at the enticingly emotional savior. "I don't want to watch the stars," she whispered meaningfully, and Emma nodded as the tears began weeping from her eyes.

"Make love to me, Regina," she pleaded. "Please." She needed her. Shamelessly. Desperately. She was going to die the next day. They both knew she'd already made the decision. She was The Savior. It's who she was, selfless, true and honest.

Regina brushed a thumb over her quivering lips before fitting her own over them slowly, reverently, and Emma prayed she'd been enough. After she saved them all in a few short hours, she prayed the love left behind sustained Regina, made her stronger, made her who she wanted to be.

Something hot and wet splashed onto her cheeks from above, and green eyes fluttered open to find Regina's weeping eyes closed tightly. Rather than acknowledge them, Regina straddled her hips and sat up. A firm grip on the collar of her jacket prevented their lips from separating. Emma closed her eyes again, following Regina's example. Wiping them away wouldn't have made it hurt less.

Trembling fingers tugged at the buttons on Regina's riding jacket. As the last button came undone, palms slid over Regina's ribs and breasts, fingertips slipping beneath the shoulders. Everything felt deeper, more meaningful. People often made love as if it were the last time, but both women understood this was the last time. Each touch, each sigh and gasp, every shudder burned into their memories to be held until they died, not until they forgot.

Regina shrugged out of the coat while Emma nipped and licked at her neck. Those same quaking digits worked at the buttons on her shirt, and she buried her own in tangled, golden tresses, holding Emma's mouth against her throat. Already, heat simmered in her belly, a testament to her uncontrollable desire for the woman baring her skin to the crisp evening air.

Once her shirt hung open, Emma leaned back and unzipped her own jacket. Regina pushed it from her shoulders and tossed it to the side, leaving Emma to pull her shirt away from her hair, sending the beautiful yellow cascading over her chest and shoulders.

"You're so beautiful, Emma," Regina murmured, trailing feathery fingertips over her collarbone and the top swell of her breast. She smiled sadly, blinking more tears onto her cheeks to keep them from obscuring her vision.

"I am when I'm with you," The Savior countered and cupped her cheek. "Don't let them make you a monster again."

Regina shook her head, chin quivering violently. "Not after you," she promised and brought their lips together for a wet, desperate kiss, the salt of their tears flavoring their lips.

Emma smiled into the kiss and nudged Regina to the side, nearing the edge of the blanket as she laid her down. She wiggled her eyebrows, acting silly to put a smile on that gorgeous mouth she never grew tired of kissing, as she unbuttoned the leather and slid it over Regina's hip. She leaned down and pressed a lingering kiss to the inside of Regina's hip bone, puffing hot, wet breaths against the surrounding skin.

Fingers tangled in blonde hair and she toed off her boots, expediting the process. Emma took the hint and pulled at the soft leather, exposing enchanting skin that glowed pale blue in the growing moonlight. Hand trailing up a toned calf, Emma kissed Regina's knee and slowly worked her way up the tantalizing body before her.

When she reached Regina's hipbone, warm hands on her shoulders thwarted her progress. "Em, I…Please." She raised onto an elbow, the other hand brushing hair from Emma's face lovingly. Her chest jogged, keeping time to the thundering staccato of her heart.

"Are you sure? You don't have to do this just because… well, just because," Emma babbled, searching for the right words. She winced at her nonsensical response. Regina rolled her eyes endearingly and nodded.

"I want you to. I want this with you," Regina soothed her fears. Emma blinked rapidly as she sucked a deep, steadying breath.

With a nod, she settled between Regina's legs on her belly and wrapped her arms around the outside of her hips. Regina jerked when Emma inhaled the scent of her and groaned. How had she ever denied this woman anything when she took such care to enjoy every aspect of her? Her grip on the head of blonde hair tightened when Emma lowered her mouth. Green eyes gazed up her body, checking in, asking permission. She nodded and applied gentle pressure to Emma's head, encouraging her.

Emma gathered as much spit on her tongue as possible and simply pressed the flat of it Regina's clit. The Queen gasped, fingers tightening in her hair again, head lulling in pleasure. She was okay. Tentatively, the hot muscle glided up and down on the bundle of nerves. Regina inhaled sharply and returned fully to the blanket, a second hand immediately finding purchase in that mane of blonde hair.

"Emma, you feel wonderful," she encouraged, sensing her lover's hesitance. It was enough. It was too much. Overwhelmed, Emma pulled back and rested her forehead on the stubbly mound between Regina's hips.

"Emma?" Regina's terrified voice called down to her, confused by her sudden reluctance.

Fingertips dug into her stomach, holding her in place. "Just… just give me a second." She took a deep breath and released it slowly, blowing cool air over Regina's wet flesh. The Queen shuddered. Something inside Emma snapped.

Without warning, she plunged inside her lover. "Emma!" Regina answered and pulled her hair, drawing her face closer to the sweet sensation. Liquid heat surrounded her, filled her partner, and Emma moaned into the slight musk of arousal on her taste buds. It filled her up completely, more intoxicating than she imagined, and she held still a moment, allowing both time to adjust.

When Emma's tongue moved in and out, not completely, just enough to create friction, Regina gasped sharply and bent her knees. Emma grinned and flicked her tongue upward, hoping she at least got Regina off before she got her ears boxed. Regina's hips rolled upward to meet her face, urging a languid drag of her tongue from slit to clit that spread slickness across the surface.

Unable to contain herself, Emma stared up her lover's body. The flush showed even in the pale light of the moon. Suctioning her mouth around Regina's distended clit and hood, she rubbed the flat of her tongue in controlled strokes, allowing Regina a chance to adjust and properly feel every new sensation.

"Emma," Regina called down again, raising her head to meet those kind green eyes. Her voice shivered, displaying her fear without the actual words. Emma offered her hands to her lover without ending that delicious movement of her tongue. Regina linked the fingers of both hands into Emma's.

Regina jerked against her hands, nails pressing crescents into the backs. Emma flicked the tip of her tongue over the swollen nub. Regina cried out, so she repeated the process until pressure expanded deep in her lover's belly, hips bucked into her face erratically, moans filled the forest with life and breath. Emma almost relinquished Regina's hand to finish tipping her lover over the edge, changed her mind at the last moment when Regina cried out from the loss of her hand.

"Emma, I'm…" Regina gasped as she rolled her hips violently. Emma pulled back with a _pop_ of her mouth dislodging like a suction cup. She grinned wickedly as Regina's body shook and shuddered with ripples and waves of pleasure.

She returned to her task, lapping gently at every droplet of moisture. "Emma," Regina moaned, releasing her right hand. "Don't tease me."

Emma took the hint and licked broad strokes lightly across her sensitive clit. When Regina began moaning and writhing, Emma slowly inserted two fingers into her lover's around contracting muscles. She curled her fingers into the ribbed patch inside, moving in and out just enough to create friction and stimulate that internal bundle of nerves.

"Em," Regina gasped, stomach curling to bring her shoulders from the blanket. They landed hard a moment later, and her back arched in the opposite direction as the gorgeous woman beneath her came undone for the second time.

Emma's own stomach clenched and shuddered, seeking her very own release. It wouldn't have taken much. "Darling," Regina called, holding out her trembling free hand, calling her upward.

Emma shimmied up her body and straddled her hips, uncaring if her jeans became wet or not on the outside. Regina tensed beneath her as another waved of pleasure cascaded into her body, and Emma moaned, unconsciously pushing her hips downward. Regina fumbled with the button of her jeans almost comically, and Emma allowed her, not willing to take this last moment from her lover.

However, she assisted by pushing the denim over her hips when Regina finally got them undone. "Just touch me," Emma begged, already so close that it hurt. Who the hell enjoyed edging?

Regina obeyed the plea and craned her wrist to find the right angle within her lover's panties. Emma jerked at first contact, gasping hot air over her face, momentarily cooling the heat radiating from her cheeks. Her body quivered, and Emma would have lowered herself to her elbows except Regina loose hand on her throat anticipated and stopped the motion.

"I want to watch," Regina whispered breathily, almost as surprised by the words as Emma. She slipped the tips of two fingers into Emma's tight opening, the angle all wrong for more penetration. Emma ground her hips down, keeping Regina's palm right-fucking-there.

Holding Regina's gaze, she rubbed against the hand giving her just enough pressure. Regina's dark eyes flicked back and forth, drinking in every single micro expression as Emma brought herself to climax using her hand as the instrument of stimulation. She twitched her fingers, reveling in the throaty moan brushing against her face. All those times that she'd topped Emma physically, too afraid to be confined, slapped her in the face. She may have been on top, but she'd given Emma control every single time, so desperate was she for her attention, her love. The thought bothered her far less than she imagined it should have.

Determined to return the favor, she continued the tiny movement of her fingers, feeling her ring of muscles around the digits grow tighter with each movement. Emma's face tighten, forehead bunched, and finally, her eyes clamped shut when her hips curled upward in a sudden jerk and stayed put.

Regina allowed a moment for the first wave of endorphins to tear through Emma's veins, and then flipped their positions, much less gracefully than the physically stronger woman now on her back. Emma seemed not to mind the rough treatment and raised her hips as Regina pulled at her boots and jeans.

"You wear these skintight contraptions to irritate me," she berated the dark blue denim and the owner inside them. Emma chuckled and then shivered when the cold air passed over the scorching flesh at the apex of her thighs.

The second the fabric pulled free, Regina dove between her thighs, taking her with a vengeance of lips and tongue and two…three fingers… all moving in tandem. Emma bucked and moaned, holding nothing back, not this time. Regina needed this, and she needed Regina's strength. How quickly their roles had changed.

Hands buried in dark hair, giving its owner a slight pause before she swirled her tongue around Emma's clit and then sucked greedily at it. Slick walls rippled and contracted around her fingers, but Emma fought her own pleasure spasm once more. She'd probably be spent afterwards, too soon. Much too soon.

"Regina," she cried, tears springing to her eyes. The Queen bumped against her g-spot. Emma bucked, loosing a high pitched gasp with each sharp, short breath. She fought her own body desperately, deliciously torn between giving in and prolonging this moment. One flick of Regina's tongue and a simultaneous crook of her fingers tore Emma apart, taking the choice from her.

"Regina," she cried, hoarse and wet and wanting. She grabbed at her lover's shoulders, bringing her body atop her own. Regina barely retrieved her fingers before Emma hefted her weight with surprising force.

Strong arms wrapped around her shoulders, holding her tightly against the quaking body of the woman sobbing into her neck. "Take my heart," Emma begged.

"Emma, I can't you're The Savior, the product of True Love," Regina contradicted quietly, fighting her own tears. Grief clawed and scraped the inside of her chest, fighting for freedom. She wanted Emma. They'd have uncovered another way eventually. How many died between this moment and that one? Would there have been a kingdom left to save?

"You're not taking it, Regina. I'm giving it to you. Take it," she whined, more broken than Regina thought imaginable. She hid her own face in golden hair that smelled of strawberries and sweat and pressed her hand to Emma's chest.

"I can't, Emma. I won't," she clarified, wrapping her fingers around the strap of her bra they'd not bothered to remove and clinging tightly to the woman who revived her soul.

"Please, Regina, this is my choice," Emma comforted her. "I can save everyone. I can save you. Please. Please, just take my heart." She wanted to tell Regina how scared she was, how terrified of sacrificing herself and accomplishing nothing. But, she only cried quietly into Regina's dark silky hair.

With a sob, Regina pushed into her lover's chest cavity. She gasped at the power radiating from that powerful organ. "You can have it," Emma whispered. "It's yours, Regina. I'm yours. It's okay, Baby. You're going to be okay."

A tiny tug dislodged the organ, and Regina shuddered in awe at the sheer power tingling in the impressive, living thing cradled in her hand. She made Emma's heart swell and ripple with power. She'd done that. Regina loosed a horrid wail, a quiet scream of anguish.

"It's okay, Baby," The Savior comforted her, even though she knew what removing her heart meant. Her death, their separation. They cried together, Emma continuously giving her heart and Regina holding it just beneath the surface of her chest.

Theirs was a tragic love, but it was more than either had ever wanted or expected from life. It was more than Regina needed to sustain humanity for the rest of hers.


	58. The Price

So, there's this. I'm sure there are mistakes because well… you'll see why I couldn't read this one more time. I will edit them out later when everything starts working properly again. One more chapter, My Lovelies.

Thank you for the amazing response and support and to all the new followers! Enjoy, My Doves.

Songs: This is War by 30 Seconds to Mars, All of Me by Jasmine Thompson

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><p>Emma tugged Regina's hand at the mouth of the cave, and The Queen stopped to simply look at The Savior, not questioning Emma's silent request. Emma threaded her fingers slowly in black hair, gently tipping Regina's head back to meet her lips. It was slow and lazy and savoring of every second, every feeling and texture. When it ended with two flushed faces and slightly labored chests, another presence made itself known.<p>

"Guys," Ruby said quietly. She heard them the moment they broke the tree line five minutes ago.

"Yeah Rubes," Emma answered without taking her eyes or hands from Regina's face. The Queen clutched at her hips like she feared if they stopped touching one another then this reality actually came to pass, the one where she killed the one person who cared enough to tape her soul together with super glue and inappropriate humor. That very heart now beat beside her own in her chest, concealed from the knowledge of their cohorts.

"The army is moving closer. I think, the scouting party is only about a mile away if my hearing is accurate. It's hard to tell in the forest, sometimes when I'm not…" She shook her head and flicked her hand in the air and dropped it to her thigh. "If we want this happen, it has to happen now," she finished bluntly.

"Now?" Regina blurted, ready to have heard anything but that.

Ruby's thin arm bent at the elbow, one finger extended towards Regina. "She always this spacey afterwards?" She grinned mischievously at them, bringing the levity back to their energy. Likely, they all died today. No sense being angry and serious, she supposed.

At the double death glare she received from the other two, she gestured a mock surrender with hands by her shoulders. "Geeeeeesh. I was the one who didn't have a choice but to hear you. Note to self, sex makes Regina grumpier. Didn't think that was possible."

Regina moved suddenly, terrifyingly so. Ruby actually jumped, almost landing in her defensive stance before Regina wrapped her arms around her neck and bestowed the world's best sister hug onto the facetious wolf. Brown eyes met green over The Queen's shoulder, and Emma shrugged, as confused as her friend. Ruby wrapped her in stout arms. As quickly as it came, it ended, and Regina straightened her riding jacket as she stalked back to the log circle within the cave.

"Have we made progress on strategy and best offenses and defensive strikes?" She demanded, every bit the queen she'd always been. Emma smiled, happy to follow along side Ruby. If Regina asked her to do what she'd practically demanded of Regina, Emma felt certain she'd not have the strength to go through with it.

"I think we have a solid plan," Ruby offered and stepped into the center of the logs to point at the crude dirt map she'd drawn. "The army is coming from the west. I've already deployed Robin and his men to circle round behind them. We'll lead them into this area of the forest. I will have archers stationed on the other side of the river canyon. If we need to make a retreat, then it should be to there. Only the most athletic and experienced will do direct hand to hand. So, they should be able to jump it, plus, we have a sorceress on our side." Ruby presented her plan proudly, more so for getting everyone to stop fighting than the plan itself.

"Regina shouldn't be there," Emma countered the last thought. "I can do enough magic to teleport and help with defense. Regina shouldn't risk a stupid injury like a sword or an arrow when she's the only one strong enough to take on Rumpelstiltskin." She met her lover's eyes, just one split second. The logic sounded good, solid, but they both knew the real reason Regina needed a pass from the start of the battle.

"So, we have laid the silly idea of The Dark Curse to rest, then?" Snow asked hesitantly, eyes weary and panicked that Regina's glare actually shot real lasers.

"For now," Regina answered civilly. Emma damn near cried out for joy and wrapped her arms around Regina's waist from behind, an almost silent 'Thank you' falling from her lips.

Snow and Charming shifted uncomfortably but remained blissfully silent. How could they say differently when their daughter pressed her lips to the back of Regina's shoulder, and The Queen responded by holding the back of Emma's hand, pushing her fingers between them, and turned her neck to touch her forehead to Emma's temple? The Queen looked tortured and peacefully content all at once, a turbulent wave in the ocean on the backdrop of a breathtakingly majestic sunset. She loved The Savior. Not even they could have denied that.

Ruby shifted her weight from foot to foot, loathing to interrupt once again. Belle saved her the trouble when she entered covered in some type of thick, dark mud. "Sweetheart, everyone is covered in this rancid substance."

Ruby giggled at the prissy woman's contorted face beneath the brown and black sludge, her heart swelling uncontrollably. They fought for love, for each other, and the organ nearly burst when Snow and David leaned into each other. They felt it, too. They all came together for True Love… the redemption of The Evil Queen and the glory of The Savior. It was damn beautiful.

"I will not subject my senses to such a humility," Regina bitched, glaring at her sister and pulling them through the intensely stagnant emotional moment. Emma had made her decision, and as much as she ached to change it, Regina understood better than any other what it meant to have choice taken from her, what it meant to have the freedom decide her own fate. She determined to give that to Emma as she'd given it to her.

"What the hell is that?" Emma asked, nose wrinkled in disgust as Belle slopped the thick substance onto Ruby's back.

"Clay harvested from the river bed from the cavern below," Belle explained without looking up from her task. "I thought perhaps we should use the cover of darkness to our advantage, stick to the woods in scattered formations rather than a large battalion lump."

"Guerilla warfare," Emma murmured appreciatively. "Look at you, Belle French."

The librarian blushed at the obvious praise, but a proud smile tugged at her lips, obvious even with her bowed head. "It's nothing," she brushed away the compliment and focused on covering Ruby's waist and hips in the back. Emma wondered if the blush came from the compliment or the placement of her hands.

"Ruby, how far away is the legion?" Snow asked, slopping her own body with the nasty stuff.

The wolf cocked her head, eyes closing as she listened for the telling sounds of a creaking, machine of flesh and metal. "They've stopped, I think, still about a mile away."

"They've sent the advanced party, then. You have to go," she directed, using her knowledge of Regina's army to their advantage. "I'll take the other archers to the ravine and get them settled in the trees throughout the forest. Luckily, even most of the kids know how to shoot a bow," she added sadly, not seeing another option for defense. They needed every available hand, but she refused to take anyone under 15.

Ruby nodded. "Come on, Savior, grab some clay."

Emma released a deep breath as her parents disappeared into the larger cavern and squeezed Regina tighter about the waist. Regina's hand responded with an increased grip of her own. This was it. She bowed her head, hiding the tears behind a veil of dark hair.

"I love you, Regina," Emma whispered into her ear.

The Queen turned slowly in her arms and kissed her slowly, a trembling hand on her cheek. "Emma, I…" Her dark eyes flickered across her face, searching for something. She grew more visibly upset with each second. The words weren't just caught in her throat, they blocked it completely.

"I know," Emma whispered and pressed her forehead to Regina's. "I know, Baby. It's okay." If Regina never said it, maybe she'd hurt less when they completed their mission. It sounded so cold like that: Mission.

"Em?" Ruby caught her attention, confusion written all over her expressive features. She loved that most about the wolf, she never hid anything. It was all right there.

"Yeah," Emma said, more for a sound than an actual answer to anything, and jerked away from Regina fast enough to physically rock The Queen who immediately wrapped her own arms around her ribs. Belle and Ruby helped her with the clay, and within a minute, they had prepared her to leave.

Stoically, Emma led the way towards the open field where they planned to bump into the advanced party. None of them glanced towards or spoke to the sorceress again. It was for the best, Emma justified and fell into a light jog, following Ruby's lead with her super-hearing. None of them had bothered claiming a weapon, but they needed to keep up with Ruby, so it wasn't an option for the two weaker bodies. Either Ruby regained strength exponentially from the chimera poisoning or she simply pushed her body harder, faster.

The cool air burning her lungs felt better than the deeper ache beneath, the emptiness of her fate, her chest cavity. The moon offered just enough light to glide effortlessly over tree roots and rocks, and the trio practically ran smack dab into the scouting party. Their steps stuttered and fumbled, and had their lives been a cartoon, they probably would have gotten that in one camera take.

Playing the part, Ruby held her arm in front of Belle to keep the librarian behind her. "The Queen is my sister. There will be consequences if you attack us," she baited them. She, Emma, Belle and Regina had the biggest prices on their heads.

"It's the wolf. Get her!" The one clearly in charge called out to the others behind him, maybe 10 or 15.

"Time to go," Ruby dropped, almost hilariously. They lived in a bloody cartoon or a sitcom. Reality took a nice long vacation. This was a Xena: Warrior Princess scene, complete with ridiculous mood music and horrible sound effects that made everything that much better.

Yet, the burn in her chest felt real. Belle's tiny body flying through the forest just in front of her looked and sounded real. She really was elegant and graceful in all things, and she pushed just a bit harder near the edge of the tree line, preparing to go airborne in less than a hundred feet. She impressed both Emma and Ruby with her physicality, but the curse had preserved her body as it had been before imprisonment, right after she'd traveled with Mulan.

The archers across the bank stood ready, judging their path the moment they broke the tree line and gave them a wide gap before the front line dropped to their knees. They must have crossed at the shallow end, climbing the bank rather than jumping. Ruby, of course, leapt first. Her lithe body barely stumbled, and she turned immediately to grab Belle's outstretched hand. The librarian would have made it, but the landing probably would have looked a lot like Emma's rolling, grunting tumble without the assistance of her lover.

Before the zing of arrows ended in sickening _thunks_ of metal and wood impaling flesh, the trio already prepared their return to the battle side of the ravine. This time Emma waited until Ruby helped Belle and then reached a hand for her. It hurt a helluva lot less than the first trip… both of them. Without words, they snagged swords and any other weapons they found from the downed soldiers.

Ruby yelled instructions over the canyon. "Stay focused and spread out. If anyone gets into a bind, they've been instructed to run towards the river. You are the last line of defense, and you're going to save lives today," she puffed them up, gave them courage and validation in their seemingly small role. Whether she realized it or not, no one else could have instilled such loyalty, not after everything Ruby sacrificed and fought for just to make their lives better.

And, they were moving again. Light from the yet unseen sun peeped over the mountains, creating a dull pink glow in the forest. They lost their advantage with each minute. Snow should have taken her group of archers to directly engage and lure the main legion into the forest by then. Robin stood ready to attack from the northwest the moment they hit the tree line. The plan looked solid, and Emma thought for the first time they might have survived without the curse. Hopefully, Regina kept close watch and refrained from killing her needlessly.

"Archers!" Snow's voice carried from just over the next hill, and the trio pushed harder. The battle had arrived. Metal and wood and flesh collided, echoing in the forest. Snow and her group just entered the forest under the cover of her strategically placed archers in the trees. Who would have thought she'd ever fight beneath the banner of The Queen?

The inside of Ruby's ear expanded, telling her that Robin moved now, that small units of civilian-turned-soldiers enacted quick, sneaky attacks against the fully trained guards of Regina's army. They were going to win. The thought spurred her onward, and she tore into the melee in a fury of wolf strength and a sharp blade, ripping through body after body. Belle followed her, finishing those left alive or partially injured. They created an impressive and awe-inspiring image, moving beautifully, in perfect tandem. Maybe they really had developed telepathic communication.

Emma kept close watch on the wolf and the librarian, searching for enemy archers or sneak attacks. If she became mortally wounded, she only needed to live long enough for Regina to finish the curse. She dipped low as a particularly burly man approached her, catching the back of his knee with the edge of her blade. He fell to the soft forest floor, but before she returned to finish him, Horace's large body appeared, his own sword completing the task swiftly.

Emma nodded gratefully, catching sight of Graham lingering nearby out of her peripheral in the growing light. They protected her. "Horace, I need you to stay with Belle and Ruby. Watch out for them."

"I'll stay with you," he argued, and the moment caught Emma off guard. Of course, he possessed his heart now. "Astrid would have wanted that," he added. Both felt a pang of anger and grief at the mention of the tender woman cut down so brutally. She was a hero, even if she'd never lifted a sword. She kept them all together, sane and supported.

"Horace, I need you to keep them focused when I drop dead in a few minutes," Emma whispered quickly, glancing around to see who might have heard. Graham stopped another soldier from reaching them.

"You gave her your heart for The Dark Curse," he pieced everything together, and Emma nodded once. He surprised the hell out of her when his giant bear body engulfed hers in a hug. "May you find peace, Savior," he murmured in her ear and then abruptly took off towards Ruby's path of destruction. He understood the willingness to sacrifice one's own life for the betterment of others, and The Savior's resolve to do just that solidified his own.

Emma followed, knowing they stood stronger if they distracted the main focus from those less accustomed to battle. Robin's men moved as one well-oiled machine from the side, and hope swelled in her chest. Rumpel hadn't expected this. The thought inspired a wicked grin. It dropped slowly when Robin sidled up beside the valiant wolf and jabbed a dagger into her stomach. The bastard betrayed them. It all happened so fast, this fast-forwarded slow motion moment.

"I think I got it right this time," he seethed maliciously. Ruby fell backwards, not completely incapacitated but stunned and wounded. Her wide eyes unveiled the truth inside her mind. Robin orchestrated the attempts on her life all along, and she'd entrusted the entire battle on his loyalty.

Horace glance over helplessly, barely preventing the hoard of soldiers from running atop the wolf. Emma pushed harder. Ruby could have gotten back up, the wound wasn't fatal to the resilient wolf, but the slow, dangerous approach of the bandit towards Belle was. The librarian failed to notice the scene unfolding just a few feet behind her back, so loud was the clash and clang of metal.

"Belle!" Ruby yelled, stumbling to her feet.

The quiet woman turned, but Robin blocked her arms, blowing her swing off kilter. He barely looked strained when he grabbed her about the neck and switched their positions, offering Ruby an unobstructed view of the dagger he drew across her lover's throat. Brown and blue eyes met helplessly, only a foot away, so close. So very, very close. Crimson spilled over his fingers, and his own spilled in a similar manner when Ruby drove the tip of her sword straight through his adam's apple a hairsbreadth from her lover's head. She released the handle of her weapon, allowing the momentum to push Robin backwards as she cradled her lover against her chest, one arm around her back and the other on the hot, spurting red liquid at her throat.

"No, no no no no no," she murmured, holding her hand over Belle's wound before she ever began lowering her to the ground. A flash of black leather and a silver hook prevented another attack against the distracted heroine of Storybrooke, and Emma almost felt relieved to see the man she'd traveled with to this land.

Emma landed hard on her knees beside her friend just as Ruby's own knees gave her weight to the earth. Belle's terrified blue eyes met hers for just a second. Her mouth opened, but only a wet gurgle escaped beside the tiny trickle of blood. All flush drained from her face. Her eyes moved back to Ruby's.

"I love you, Belle. Please, just hold on," she begged, helpless. "Where is Regina!" She demanded. "Regina!" she called into the forest, hoping her sister be nearby to heal her dying lover. Regina couldn't hear her, and Emma regretted more than ever the fact she'd never taken her magic seriously enough to learn control when Regina offered her the chance in the original timeline.

"Belle!" Ruby yelled. "I love you. Please. Please. Please. Don't leave me," she begged, her forehead falling to the already unmoving chest of her lover whose eyes stared up at them without seeing. It was myth, what they showed on television. When someone died, you couldn't close their eyes and make them stay. Reality was much harsher than the cathartic release of respecting a fallen comrade by covering the one part of them that bore evidence of the no longer present soul.

Emma averted her gaze to the battle around them. Far more civilians lay unmoving than soldiers. The nauseating tang of iron overpowered the previously natural dirt and bark scent of the forest. The hot liquid covered Emma's own hands, wetting the clay that had dried and cracked against her skin.

"Ruby, we have to go," she whispered and pulled at the wolf's shoulders.

"Retreat! To the canyon, everyone now," she bellowed above the battle, and those who could took off to the safety of the archers waiting on the other side. They'd have won if Robin hadn't betrayed them, but the sun rose on a fate decided by the hand of treachery.

"Rubes, let's go. We'll come back for her. I promise," Emma tried again, weary of the number of soldiers breaking into a sprint towards them without the weak line of defense the civilians provided.

"No," Ruby stated coldly as she lowered Belle's corpse to the soft ground soaked in her blood. "Go get Regina," she ordered and stood, pulling her sword from Robin's throat with a wet slurping sound. A gurgling rumble of air seeped from the hole it left behind, and Emma swallowed the sudden abundance of saliva in her throat mouth. She was going to puke.

"Ruby," she protested and reached for her friend before she committed suicide. Regina wouldn't have survived losing everyone.

"No!" The wolf yelled and slapped her hand away. A streak of red trickled down her face, the remnants of her soul mate's lifeblood. Her emblem of grief and rage. "Go get Regina before we all die. I'm going to give everyone a fighting chance," she explained, far too calmly to be joking… or sane, for that matter.

Before Emma spoke again, Ruby sprinted directly into the onslaught of bodies, cutting a vengeful path, drawing the attention of more. Emma froze for exactly one second, mesmerized by the raw savage force of the generally docile and loving waitress. Without warning to her brain, her body took off in the direction of the well in the woods. Maybe if she got there in time, Ruby's physical life could be spared by Regina's magical abilities.

She leapt over bodies, friends and familiar faces, strangers. Her body soared, her mind almost unaware of the movement. Her own magic felt so far away that she knew there was absolutely no hope of reaching it. Without her heart, it felt weakened before grief and anger and vengeance flooded her veins. The image of that stupid, misplaced well appeared along with her lover tossing something into it.

"Regina!" Emma called. Ruby needed her. That stupid wolf charged straight into enemy lines, angry enough but not nearly strong enough to rip apart an entire legion of The Queen's Army.

"Emma?" Regina's head jerked sharply from her work at the well. She'd just added the final ingredients, save Emma's heart.

"Regina, Ruby needs you," Emma yelled, her voice bouncing with the vibrations of her mad sprint. Regina caught her about the arms when she almost tipped headfirst into the well from the inertia she tried to abruptly stop.

"Robin turned on us. He's attacking our people from the side. He killed Belle. Ruby went nuts, Regina. They're going to kill her, too!" Emma screamed, more terrified for Ruby's life than her own. Without her sister, what chance had Regina ever stood of maintaining her goodness, her humanity? She'd banked on Ruby's survival.

"It only needs a heart," Regina murmured and turned her eyes slowly to well as though she'd not heard a word Emma said.

Emma grabbed the lapels of her jacket and shook her roughly. "Did you not hear me? Go get Ruby!" Panic electrocuted her blood, pumping it as though her heart still resided in its proper home.

Regina pulled a heart from her chest and placed it in Emma's hand, covering it with her own, concealing its glowing power. Emma's brow furrowed, steam crossing in front of her face from her erratic breaths. With a flick of Regina's wrist, The Savior's hand flew out, tightly gripping a blackened heart over the well.

"Regina, no," Emma breathed, struggling desperately against the magic restraining her body. Regina smiled sadly and removed Emma's heart from her chest, taking a moment to visually appreciate the raw power of Emma's love. Even outside of her body, the organ glowed and pulsed brightly, magnificently.

"The world needs their savior more than they need their queen," Regina murmured, resigned and content with her decision. She pressed Emma's heart against her chest without returning it completely. With her heart, Emma's love magic might have overpowered hers. Her growing affection for the people in her life weakened it already and the selfless gesture she prepared only added extra strain. Her magic would never have defeated The Dark One's anyway, not now, not after the miracle of Emma Swan's love.

Her free hand slid beneath Emma's over the deep, black hole. Emma watched those slim fingers envelop her own. One by one the steady, confident digits slowly applied more pressure to the life organ in her fist. Regina's body pressed closely to hers, only a paper-thin separation, too much, too much space.

"Regina, please. I'm The Savior," Emma protested in a wet, tearful voice. This wasn't Regina's sacrifice to make, but she'd determined to make it anyway. Regina pressed her forehead to her lover's, stepping into her bodily, removing that damnable space.

"You can't save them, Emma, but I can save you," Regina whispered, tears tumbling onto her beautifully flushed cheeks. Their kiss tasted of salt and lasted for a small eternity, just holding pressure against Emma's mouth, drinking tears. "I love you, Emma."

Without preamble, she shoved Emma's heart into her chest and crushed her own simultaneously.

All the magic holding Emma suddenly disappeared, and she grabbed Regina's abruptly lifeless body. Heart dust dropped into the darkness, floating on the wind, rubbed onto Regina's black riding jacket, now so familiar. They fell to the ground in slow motion, the world slowing as the most destructive curse ever created shot into the sky. Tears and grief blinded The Savior as she wrapped Regina's corpse into a tight embrace, holding her lover tightly to her chest.

"It was supposed to be me," she wept softly into that silky black hair. "You can live without love, Regina. I can't." Her body rocked unconsciously, her brain quite unaware of it.

"Please," she begged, her lips against Regina's forehead muffling the plea. Grief and insurmountable pain swelled in her chest slowly, an excruciating build up to the type climax of that immediately grew once more after the initial release.

"Swan?" Hook's accent called from a distance. If she heard him, his presence felt like a cruel joke, a trick of nature forever damning her to hurt.

"It was supposed to be me!" She yelled at her gone lover, at Hook, at the unfeeling world. The climax exploded, and she tipped her head back and loosed a hollow scream that carried on far longer than her lung capacity and echoed hauntingly against the surrounding forest, caressing the patient and absorbing wood.

In the air a swirl of blue joined the black of The Dark Curse, the two opposing forces lapping at the other viciously, struggling for dominance. Emma collapsed atop her queen, too broken to care and too tired to move.

"Give her back to me," she whispered just before the world tore apart around them and her mind sank into blissful unconsciousness.


	59. True Love

So, I have toyed with the idea of doing a sequel to this. What do y'all think?

Devildoc35: I have decided to give another one-shot to say thank you for all the reviews. You were the 1,000th reviewer, so CONGRATS! And send me your prompt if you'd like a one-shot.

Last chapter, I do hope you enjoy it. Thank you so much for taking this crazy ride with me. It's been painful and cathartic and exactly what I needed, so I hope you've found a bit of release as well. Until next time, friends.

Song: Shattered by Trading Yesterday

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><p>Emma looked up at the stars. Hook grunted beside her and dusted his jacket as he sat up and looked around. He released a sudden, stunned laugh. They'd returned to a timeline, possibly the original one. Who cared? Emma rolled onto her side, facing away from Hook, tucked her arm beneath her head and covered her mouth with the other hand. Tears already burned her throat, dried and itched on her cheeks. Emma felt helpless to stop them.<p>

"Let her go, Love," Hook soothed her. A surprisingly gentle hand touched her shoulder, and Emma hiccupped a sob.

"I can't. Regina's my… true love," she stuttered, loosing a torrent of fresh, hot tears onto her cheeks and fingers. The words sounded comical and surreal even to her ears.

"Aye, but not here, Swan," he reasoned, loathing himself a bit for his honesty. He wanted to lie to her, to allow her to live in a fantasy world for a bit longer, but ultimately, that might have proved more detrimental to her grieving process than the truth.

"You don't even know where we are," she argued, and he nearly jumped for joy. Emma was still in there, not completely broken, just very damaged.

"Come here, lass," he bade tenderly, much more tenderly than she'd ever thought he'd treat her. She never wanted his tenderness, but he'd gone and fallen in love with her and destroyed their chance at the perfect fuckbuddy relationship.

"Hook," she cried and flung herself into his waiting arms. "How did you do this? After Milah?" She looked for guidance, for any string to grasp. Losing Neal never hurt like this, never so deeply. She always felt that she'd recover, knew she'd find a way to keep living. It scared her to realize she hadn't even wanted to try to find a way, not now. Everything hurt, and it would never get better.

"Keep breathing until it doesn't hurt anymore," Hook offered up his wisdom. "I might have moved on, but I'm still waiting for that day," he added a word of caution. No one loved like that and completely recovered.

Emma wailed. It was an excruciating sound, and tears blurred his own vision. Emma wasn't him. Emma wasn't coming back from this. He needed to keep her moving, find a reason for her to continue. Wrapping an arm around her waist, he pulled them both to their feet, accepting the heavy weight of her body against him. At least they came thru the portal without that foul clay all over them. They were fucked if that was the most positive thing he thought of for comfort.

"Let's go see where we landed, shall we?" He asked optimistically, holding Emma up with a firm arm about her waist. She barely seemed to notice the intimate touch, much less prepared to yell at him for it. The lack of response unnerved him far more than the unending tears.

By the time they reached town, Emma finally cried herself into a quiet stupor and walked on her own. Making her move had been the right decision. Her strong arms encircled her stomach tightly, holding the nausea at bay. Numbness set in, blissfully so, Hook imagined. No one else knew what she endured, knew what she'd lost, and he nobly vowed to be there for her, however she needed him. He watched the entire thing, Regina crushing her own heart, being a hero as she'd always wanted.

"Wait here a moment," he instructed just outside the door of Granny's and poked his head inside. Snow and Charming glanced at him in confusion, the former hugging an infant to her chest. Henry waved from the counter, whipped cream from hot cocoa on his upper lip. Ruby's tight leather pants offered an unobstructed view of her shapely legs and ass. Everything appeared just as they'd left it. Had they honestly come home? One way to find out.

He opened the door completely and ushered Emma into the diner with a hand on the small of her back. Henry's brow furrowed in concern, and he hopped off the stool immediately. Snow and Charming stood as well, Emma's puffy eyes and reddened nose too telling for even them to be optimistic about. Ruby rounded the counter slowly, waiting to see if her friend required backup or support. Her expressive features showed the shared pain before she even knew what caused Emma such anguish.

"Henry?" Emma checked because one never knew these days. She touched his face with both hands. "Is it really you?"

"Are you okay, Ma? Who else would I be?" The boy asked in confusion, eyes flicking towards his grandparents for guidance. Had she thought someone else swapped his body and mind again? Something happened between Zelena's defeat and now that caused such a dramatic and unexpected reaction in the fierce savior.

"Emma, what's wrong?" Snow asked gently and handed their newborn off to her husband's capable arms to touch her firstborn's shoulder compassionately.

"Mom," Emma whined, practically falling into her mother's arms, one hand never leaving Henry's face. The boy flung himself into the hug from the side, showering his affections upon his wounded hero. So different than the nervous touches and anxious avoidance of physical contact like Mason. She loved both. She wanted both. That wasn't ever going to be possible.

A flash of red shifted in her peripheral vision, and Emma pulled abruptly from the warm, safe embrace of her blood family and flung herself into the arms of a woman who had become her chosen family. "Ruby Lucas, I have never been so happy to see anyone in my whole damn life." Wait, had she just cast a curse? Was Belle still dead? Was Regina? Emma hugged the wolf tighter, thrilled when she returned the same amount of pressure on her waist and back.

"Are you okay?" Ruby repeated Snow's question. Not even close, Emma answered in her head.

The bell jingled above the front door, parting the two friends, and Mr. Gold stepped inside, looking horrible. He grieved his son. Without a word, he sat as near to the door and as far from the small group as possible, making it clear he intended to speak to no one. Rage flared in Emma's chest.

"I know why Belle left you," she tortured the already aching man. "She found the diary of what you put Regina thru, didn't she? Found out who you really were?" Everyone reacted visibly, even The Dark One - confusion, shock, anger.

"Have you something to say, Miss Swan?" The suave man asked, seemingly unbothered despite the darker emotions playing in his eyes.

The Savior charged towards the smug man, grieving or not. Her knuckles connected with his jaw in a satisfying _thud. _A horrid screech tore from her throat as Hook's shoulder caught under her ribs, tearing her grip from Gold's suit coat and lifting her into the air. He, more than anyone, understood that rage towards the crocodile, but this version of the man may or may not have done anything to The Queen. With Ruby's help, he wrangled Emma to the tables outside.

"Put me down!" She demanded, never once wavering in her valiant struggle against their firm holds. They sat her down at one of the tables farthest from the door and backed up slowly, waiting to see what sort of reaction they received. Emma pulled her knees to her chest, heels of her boots planted firmly on the edge of the chair, and wrapped her arms around her shins.

Hook and Ruby hovered, one confused and wondering and the other gazing down upon her with pitying eyes. Ruby reached for her, stopped with her hands hovered in the air, dropped them to her thighs. She'd never seen Emma so upset, not even after Graham's death or Neal's funeral.

"Leave me alone." The words were muffled by tears and the confinement of her face, but the tone said more than that. Even the wolf realized the brokenness of their savior. She opened her mouth and sucked a deep breath, but no words slid over her tongue at Hook's slow shake of his head and silent departure. Emma needed a moment alone.

In her position, folks barely noticed the woman curled into a tiny ball even though the diner bell continued to ring and clang as people arrived for the unveiling of her baby brother's name. She hated all of them. None of them would ever know. None of them could understand that Regina's arch nemesis, the destroyer of the curse, actually broke it gently with the tender caress of True Love. It felt like a cruel joke.

She raised her head, enough for her eyes to peep over her knees. A surge of white hot rage tore through her. Robin stood at the arch at the start of the walk that led to Granny's. She might have taken after him as she had Rumpelstiltskin were it not for the tiny boy in his arms. Her chest heaved, heavy and constricted. No way had that man possessed his heart in the other timeline. He wasn't evil, his brilliant and doting smile towards his son proved that.

Across the street, the library doors opened, and he spun slightly to wave at the beautiful librarian flouncing across the street. Belle waved happily and even stopped to tickle Roland before she clacked up the walk, her short dress bouncing and swishing with her springy steps. Ruby met her at the door, probably having heard her leave the library, and kissed her away from the prying eyes of horny dwarves and judgmental patrons. Not that they ever cared about that, but they probably hadn't seen the other all day if the lingering affection indicated anything. Sometimes, it was nice to just say hello and pretend the rest of the world ceased to exist.

Emma dropped her forehead back to her knees, her body rocking gently as more tears dripped onto her jeans and cheeks. Had she saved everyone or had she simply activated another time portal with her magic that brought her home? How would she know? Would everyone else still have their scars from the other world? If she restored everyone's memories, what kept Rumeplstiltskin from enacting the same plot? Regina had returned as many hearts as possible, but she still held many in this timeline, enough for him to plot his revenge, his world domination. She still hadn't a clue what exactly she'd messed up in the first place. The closest thing to an explanation she found was Peter Black's survival in the other timeline. Perhaps on perhaps really had made such a difference, especially one as loyal and determined as Ruby.

A familiar husky laugh caught her ear, and against her better judgment, Emma raised her head again. Regina smiled brightly up at the man who helped decimate her kingdom, heartlessly, of course. The fact assuaged little of Emma's anger, neither did Regina's adoring gaze. It wasn't love, not like she'd looked at her, and Emma sincerely doubted it could ever be. She settled for Robin, but she could have settled for worse. He cared for her, might have loved her, but he'd never break her curses.

Perhaps that was the definition of True Love… sacrifice and unconditional acceptance.

Emma felt a seed of selfless determination root in her heart. She let her go. Despite her heaving chest and the twinge of jealousy and indescribable grief that scraped the inside of her chest when Robin leaned down to kiss those perfect, red lips, she let her go. She was happy for the first time in the three years she'd known her. She was safe from Rumpelstilskin's wrath, safe from her own self-destruction.

If she somehow restored everyone's memories from the previous timeline as she'd hoped when the time portal and Dark Curse combined, she brought nothing but misery. Regina already mourned Cora once. Her parents already found a way to forgive The Queen. Everyone had, really. Rumpelstiltskin behaved. Everyone found a little smidgen of happiness here, like this.

Better only one person suffer than thousands. Better she mourn in secret than risk the destruction of Regina's kingdom again. She already screwed everything up once, and the guilt of that etched onto her heart, scored too deeply to be removed by any act of contrition or sacrifice. Bitterness settled into her soul alongside the sapling of duty and determination that led her to this decision.

She nearly jerked to her feet as Regina and Robin walked up the little stone path hand in hand. She nearly called for her True Love, to help her, to save her from this despair, this unfixable grief. She wished that she'd never known, had never felt that woman's touch because she knew what waited for her in her dreams, what voice haunted her waking mind. But, she had felt the power of Regina's love, though, the sensation of her touches, the taste of her passion, the breathy sighs of her redemption and pain. She'd absorbed them all because she loved her more than anything, and the fact kept her glued to the cold metal chair.

She let her go because sometimes… sometimes True Love meant giving up the person you love most to ensure her happiness.


End file.
